


Orange Colored Sky

by summersociety



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Minor sidequest spoilers, Slow Burn, also lots of pining, story spoilers, the pre relationship fic that nobody asked for, the sloooooowest burn, this is a long one sorry guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2018-05-27 20:19:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 54,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6298903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summersociety/pseuds/summersociety
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Blue deals with adjusting to life in the Commonwealth, Piper deals with blossoming feelings for the Sole Survivor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It all started out with some job in Goodneighbor, Blue had told Piper shortly after she arrived back to Sanctuary. She and MacCready were supposed to find a brewing machine somewhere in the ruins of Boston - which Blue later eloquently described to her as "fucking teeming with Super Mutants" - only to find that what they were looking for was a rusty, joke cracking robot. 

"MacCready's saying I should keep it," Blue continued to the reporter, shrugging and taking a swig of her ice cold beer. "And I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty tempting."

"People do seem to like it." Piper admitted. Sanctuary Hills was still in a disarray after a raider attack had taken out a turret or two and left two settlers injured, but their troubles seemed to be behind them for the moment. They'd gathered to one of the houses that Blue had cleared out - a makeshift bar for the night. Even Preston, who was always worried about other settlements, seemed to have a slack in his shoulders as he chatted up some of the newer arrivals to Sanctuary. 

Blue sighed. "Yeah, but I did promise it to the hotel." 

"I _guess_." Piper drew out, before giving a small groan. "Being righteous sucks sometime, eh, Blue?" 

"Cheers to that." Blue said, before looking out at the crowd. "Glad I let MacCready talk me into keeping it for the night, at least." 

"Cheers to that, indeed." 

The Diamond City radio crackled in from the corner of the room, a swing song that Piper heard about a dozen times before. A few of the settlers were drunk enough to start dancing, laughing and stumbling the entire time. Others gathered around the bar as MacCready regaled the crowd with a wild tale about how Blue had been a moment from death before he'd touched down, three point landing and all, from the balcony and shot the offending Super Mutant in the head, killing him with one bullet. Piper didn't pay it any mind - she's heard pretty much the same story a week earlier when the three of them happened to be in Diamond City, only replacing "Super Mutants" for "a Deathclaw". He was a bit of a hambone, but Piper had a feeling there might be a heart in the mercenary deep down under all the embellishment and the tough demeanor. 

But Blue had been sitting at the bar alone for the most of the night, looking on but never really talking, a distracted look on her face. Piper, always the keen eyed, had noticed. Blue wasn't paying anything much attention and Piper, being the natural snoop that she was, had determined to get at the root of it. 

Piper continued. "I was gonna go out for a cigarette. Get some fresh air, ya know. Care to join me?"

The vault dweller shot her a small smile. "Come on, I can't ever say no to you."

 _Damn it_. Piper wished she could bury the small red that she could feel growing in her cheeks in her cup. She knew Blue hadn't meant it in any way more than platonic, but the seriousness her voice took whenever she'd say something like that always gave her a slight flush. Blue was her friend. Her really good friend. Probably the best friend she'd ever had, Piper had previously thought, not that she's told her - Blue was alone in the Wasteland when they'd first met, Piper only had Nat and the paper. They sort of fell together, the misfit duo that they were. Blue was still so new to the Commonwealth and shell shocked to the world - Piper would never forget her reaction to when Blue saw her first Brahmin, practically falling in shock at seeing a cow with two heads - and Blue slowly becoming her confidant. She was a good listener, always listened when she talked about the paper and Nat and everything. Between that and how well they complimented and watched each other's backs in combat, the two were practically inseparable. 

Her good friend, Piper thought. Her good friend, that's it, that's all. Definitely it. It was natural to be this nervous around anyone, especially with someone who's been gaining more renown than one might gain Rads nowadays.

After she'd realized she hadn't responded for a good few seconds, she laughed a bit nervously. "Ha, yeah. Let's, uh, let's get out of here then, shall we?"

They walked in a comfortable silence, headed out of the house, past Blue's old, dark house (not that Blue stayed there anymore. _"Too painful to be in that old place."_ she'd said one day, but she hadn't touched anything inside it, either) to the cauldesac at the end of the road. There'd been a few park benches and tables set out there, lonely secluded under the dim light of a nearby house. The noise of the small party could be heard, still, but it was intimate enough. 

Piper grabbed her pack in her red jacket, grabbing one for herself and Blue. She'd lit hers quickly and Blue's, trying her best not to pay attention to how the flip lighter perfectly illuminated her friend's pale skin, her freckles, her deep green eyes, her rusty red hair that never seemed out of place even though it was in helmets half the time. Or how she'd had a habit of lazily holding a cigarette between a small, cocky grin and thin lips that looked so -

The reporter couldn't help it. Her job was to cover the little details in the paper. She'd always had an attentive eye, but sometimes it was overwhelming. 

"So," Piper began. "You've been a bit...distant since you've come back. Definitely different than when I saw you yesterday. What's up, Blue?"

Blue paused for a moment, taking a deep drag. Exhaling, she sighed. "Can't keep anything from you, can I?"

"It's more that you're a terrible liar." Piper half teased. "Come on, what's eating ya?"

Blue gave a small laugh for a moment before falling silent. Her eyes lifted from the ground, looking out in the distance and away. She flicked her cigarette once, twice. 

"It's, uh." She started, her words small and stumbling a little. "It's, well, it's today. Would've been Nate's birthday."

Piper's jaw fell a little bit. She'd known that Blue was married with a kid before being locked away in that Vault before the War. Blue didn't talk about it or what life was like before the War too much, and Piper didn't want to pry; she could tell it was a touchy subject.

"Oh, Blue." Piper said, softly. She raised her arms to grab Blue instinctually, but decided against it last minute before grabbing her shoulder. "I didn't mean to - you don't have to talk about -"

"It's fine." Blue said, leaning a bit into Piper's hand slightly. "I'm fine. I'm just caught up in memories, I guess."

Piper squeezed Blue's shoulder a bit. "I'm - you know I'm here for you if you need anything."

"Yeah, I do." Blue paused for a second, seemingly distant and lost in thought. After half a beat, she continued. "His sixteenth birthday was a bit like this. His dad - big, mean guy - had a farm just outside the city. Nate had the brilliant idea to steal his brother's ID to buy a bunch of liquor and threw a party. Somehow or another, a fire had started in one of the silos and we all hid out in the woods around it and just watched the building burn down. We all realized how fucked we were and left. Nate, he'd said he was at his brother's for the night and he vouched for him. They blamed it on a wiring malfunction and they got some money back on insurance, but we were all so scared. And stupid. We were the stupidest teenagers."

Piper listened to the entire thing silently, giving Blue a grin after she'd stopped. "Could explain your love of Molotov's."

Blue grinned back, the first real looking one Piper had seen all night. "Yeah, I guess."

They sat like that for a while, Piper's arm wrapped around Blue, neither of them paying as much attention to smoking for the time being. 

Blue continued after a while. "I guess I haven't allowed myself time to grieve."

Piper squeezed her shoulder, but Blue went on. "He...we weren't together. When he was killed. And Shaun was gone, he died trying to protect him."

Blue shook a bit under Piper's hand, just once before taking an audibly deep breath to stabilize herself. "He was such a good father." 

Piper didn't know how to respond. She didn't. She opened up her body posture on the bench, letting Blue lean into her a little, her arm around her the entire time. They sat together, the sound of the party in the distance the only thing that would break the silence between the pair. Blue didn't cry, not exactly. She seemed distraught, certainly, but Piper knew her well enough to be the type not to break down in front of anyone for anything. 

Blue was the first to break the silence. "He...before the War. We married young. Certain we were childhood sweethearts." Blue gave a strange laugh. "How wrong that was."

Piper was a bit shocked. "You two - sorry - you weren't?"

Blue leaned her back into Piper a bit - Piper did her best to stay relaxed under her. "It took us a while to realize. We were best friends before we dated, but friendship does not a marriage make. We fought all of the time, always over the stupidest shit. It didn't help that he didn't help out with...with Shaun."

The mention of her son stilled her for a moment. "But he was a good father. We might've been separating, but it was mutual. And he was going to be there for Shaun, we were going to share custody. He was...he was so good with the baby. Much better than I was, in all honesty."

Blue seemed to remember her cigarette at this time because she took a deep inhale of the last of it before flicking it away. "Our marriage was over long before the bomb fell, but he was one of the best friends I ever had. And such a good father. I wish I told him more." 

Piper tightened her arm around Blue, absentmindedly tracing patterns on her shoulder with her thumb. Blue sighed a bit, leaning more into Piper, curling inward and laying her head on her shoulder. Piper almost jumped at the movement, hyper aware of how close they were, but she forced her heart to slow as she felt Blue relax more and more against her. 

"I'm here for you. You know that. If you ever need me and in case you forgot." Piper knew saying that it would be alright wasn't enough. Enough people had told her it would be alright when her father died and her and Nat had to survive on their own in Diamond City. It was nothing but empty words. She could only be there for Blue and she intended to, as long as she was welcome. A part of her that she pushed deep, deep down inside of her wondered how much Blue wanted from her, but she'd offer as much as Blue would take. 

Blue wrapped herself a bit more into Piper's arm. "Thank you. It means a lot. And, just so you know...same here." 

The light softly flickered overhead them as the party continued on, the roars still going strong as the alcohol MacCready had spent so long cooling was finally being put to good use. Piper finished her cigarette as well, flicking it away before noticing a stray red hair in Blue's hair. She absentmindedly tucked it behind her ear. The din of Diamond City radio could be faintly heard over it. Piper hummed a song she recognized under her breath, her thumb still tracing over Blue's shoulder. 

After a few songs, Piper spoke up. "They're probably wondering where we are in there."

Blue nuzzled her head into Piper a little bit more. "Let them wonder for a little bit longer. Let's stay out here a little bit more."

Piper couldn't help but oblige.


	2. Chapter 2

" _Oh, no, Piper, it's supposed to be safe._ " Piper mocked, her voice lowering to impersonate Blue's while tossing aside a now empty stimpack. " _Just returning an overdue book, is all. Besides, you'll like the library! It'll be lots of fun!_ "

"Yeah, well I didn't expect a whole arsenal of turrets with Protectrons on TOP of a literal fuckton of Super Mutants." Blue said, walking around the halls of the now-emptied library. Occasionally she'd rifle through desks and filing cabinets for anything and everything she could find. It all went to use; none could deny that Blue was turning into a real handyman when helping out the settlements that they'd visit, often leaving them in better condition than she arrived. Piper could help out with smaller tasks around the town, maybe tend to the Tatos for a bit, but she'd seen Blue put up an entire small house and still have time for dinner. "It's a tall order. Even for us."

"Daisy will be glad to see the place in working order, though." Piper called out from behind a very worn but still readable Boston Bugle. "It was awfully nice of you, clearing up the old library for her-"

"Let's get this clear," Blue's voice was distant as she entered a closet off to the side. "At heart, I'm still a lawyer. Daisy has a book overdue. And since Daisy and I are some of the only ones left from before the War, I'd be morally obliged to sue her on the behalf of Boston. But since Boston doesn't exist, and neither does the law..."

"I often forget that." Piper said, a little louder so that Blue could hear from the other room. "You're a lawyer in a lawless land. Irony's pretty sick, isn't it?"

"At least I'm out of student debt." Blue returned. After a pause, she continued. "I also came to the library pretty often. Studied here sometimes. It'll be nice to have a library, too. I thought, if there was anything left, we might be able to salvage it for some settlements. Maybe donate a bit to the Schoolhouse in Diamond City."

Piper smiled, licking the tip of her finger to turn the fragile page. Blue was such a breath of fresh air from the regular life within the city; so many people were blind to other people's plights and troubles. So many people in this world were content with letting life pass by them without ever reaching out a hand - it's why she started the newspaper, after all, to keep people aware of the injustices of the city and the Commonwealth. In the precious times when enough people would read the latest issue hot off the press and stopped making fun of her for _half a god damned second_ to pay attention to what she was writing, it was like static electricity. A current that passed through them, a cry that needed to be answered. 

She always felt the paper was doing its best when she'd walk by and see the glares of the Diamond City security on her back like daggers. Her words could rile the common man. Things wouldn't get swept under the carpet under her watch.

Still, there was a prideful part of her that relished in being the spark of the fight - Travis, in a rare moment of coherent speech once mentioned it being called "fighting the Good Fight". Blue always gave so freely; for someone who could be so deadly, she fought the Good Fight like a pacifist. 

Piper admired her, she'd admit that much. Piper was nosy and in-your-face and bossy - Blue seemed focused at all times, whether it was on maintaining her guns or scavenging for ceramic for God-knows-what she'd be building back in Sanctuary or if they were talking, grabbing a drink at the Dugout Inn, when she was teaching Blue to use the printing press. How she'd fixed the gear in it that was out of place and spent the better half of the day fixing it; Piper'd spent the better part of that staring at Blue's hands, how they always glided across the press with such finesse and how at home Blue felt with tinkering things and wondering just how talented those hands were -

Piper was interrupted by her thoughts taking a sharp left turn by Blue coming back into the room. She spilled a few of the objects on the floor - all Pre-War objects, of course - and Piper laughed. 

When Blue picked up her fifth desk fan, Piper snorted. "Well, if _anyone_ could figure out what to do with that..."

"Don't want to hear it, Wright." Blue didn't even look back, carrying her small bundle of Pre-War "treasures" back to the ever growing pile of loot she'd surely sort through later. "You'll be thanking me later when there's a new and working Nuka Cola machine that I've brought into this world."

"I'm not saying I'm not appreciative." Piper called out, not getting up from the chair. "But you're gonna regret moving all of that stuff when there's a major kink in your back tomorrow." 

"And you're gonna work it out of me, since I'm building you a Nuka Cola machine in the first place."

"As your personal masseuse?" Piper called out from behind her magazine. She glanced over it for just a moment to glance up at Blue. "I know a bit about a few things, but I'm afraid massage therapy isn't among them."

"Pretend it's for a piece. Use your powers of investigation on me, Miss Reporter. You always can find the root of a problem."

Piper was very grateful for the newspaper she had in her hands because she almost hid her reddening face in it entirely. Her thoughts wandered a little as she stared at her hands grasping at the paper, wondering how good they'd be at investigating Blue's problems. How far they'd be allowed to wander -

"Only because you're being so nice." Piper got out at last, dragging herself out of her delusion. 

She could practically hear Blue's grin across the room. "Oh, I aim to please."

Piper's eyes frantically scrambled across the old Bugle, desperately trying to find an old headline to focus on anything, anything except for that tone in Blue's voice. 

Piper could hear Blue chuckle over in her corner of the room. The static crackle of Diamond City Radio rang out from her Pip Boy, slightly echoing through the now vacant building. 

"You're really a fan of that station, huh?" Piper inquired. 

"Helps me think." Blue called back.

"You'll have to tell Travis." Piper said, turning to the next page. "Lord knows he could use the confidence."

"Vadim mentioned an idea he had about that, actually. Something to give him confidence. I was going to meet him at the Dugout sometime and talk about it. You in?"

"And miss out on some hair brained plan that Vadim hatched up that you're getting yourself into? No way, I'm in. This'll make the best story ever."

"I'm glad you have such faith in me." Blue sighed as she fine tuned to the stammering DJ rambling on about something again. She headed back into the storage room, returning back after a few minutes with yet another bundle in her hands. 

"Hey, check some of these out." Blue called over to Piper, rifling over some of her discoveries. "Some mostly intact books - we get first dibs of course. Are you interested at all in, uh-" she squinted hard at a title. "'Learning Russian: Volume 4'?" 

"The school might." Piper shrugged. "Or Vadim and Yefim. I'm personally fine, thanks, though."

Blue grabbed at the other books, reading the titles aloud. "'To Kill A Mockingbird', yeah, that's a keeper. 'Intro To Coding', maybe a pass, maybe Nick might find it interesting. 'Theorems In Psychology...I think the DSM might need an update, but sure. 'The Lusty Argonia-', ew, this is going on the reject pile, so wrong."

Blue continued calling out book titles she'd found, sorting them into separate piles. Piper's interest was intrigued on a few titles - a book on Frederick Douglas had piked her interest, as has a few Pre-War history books. They sat at her feet as the pair sat in silence, the radio the only disturbance as Blue thought aloud. 

"Huh. 'Two Left Feet: How To Teach Anyone How To Dance'. A bit stuck."

Piper looked up at the book in Blue's hands - a small, red thing that seemed elegant in design compared to the other books. 

"Dunno, Blue." Piper teased over the sound of Travis stumbling over announcing a song. "The way you've been shooting recently, you might need that."

"One misplaced shot into a car - that happened to be on fire and about to explode anyway, might I add - and you never live it down." Blue grumbled under her breath as the music swelled in time. "Besides, I already know how to dance." 

"I'm gonna call bull on that one." Piper guffawed incredulously, "A Brahmin has more finesse than you, Miss Arson."

Piper glanced up from her paper for a moment, shocked when she saw Blue rise from the junk pile, take her hair out of her helmet, and begin to stride over toward her.

"Blue?" Piper put her paper down for a moment, perplexed. 

"I mean," Blue countered. "If you don't believe me, I guess I'm just gonna have to show you." She extended her hand to Piper, still lounging in her chair. 

Piper paused for a moment, looking down at Blue's hand, back up at her eyes, back down again. "You're kidding." 

"Wouldn't dream of it. You wounded my pride and I intend to prove you wrong."

Piper looked up at Blue, her eyebrow raising quizzically. "Really?"

"I may also just enjoy proving you wrong, Piper. It's what you get for assuming."

Piper gave out a small laugh, her hand reaching out for Blue's. It fit perfectly - they've held hands, mostly to run from something that could turn them to Instamash in seconds. It was odd in this context - that they were this close, as close as they'd be when dismembering the bad guys of Boston, without any threat of danger nearby. 

Just her. And Blue. 

Oh God. 

"The End Of The World" rang out from Blue's wrist, tinning around the room. Piper didn't know what to do - she'd never danced before. Christ, she'd never thought about wanting to dance with anyone before. But with Blue, she was genuinely curious, and hey, as long as it didn't kill  
her, right?

Blue snaked her arm around Piper's waist. "You're gonna put your hand on my shoulder." she explained, using her arm around Piper's waist to pull the reporter in closer until they were chest to chest. "Your feet follow my feet. We'll start simple okay?"

Piper stared up at Blue, her mouth suddenly going dry as she nodded. 

Fuck. This was going to kill her. 

It took a longer than Piper would have wanted to not step on Blue's toes every time she moved, each time exclaiming "Yeouch, sorry Blue!" or "Ah! Sorry." Blue shushed her, pushing the offending foot away with her own, guiding it slightly in the right direction. Piper felt the hand on the small of her back guiding her through most of the small waltz, learning mostly to take Blue's lead. 

Inadvertently, either through Piper pulling in toward Blue or vice versa, the two were practically meshed together. Piper's nose brushed against the bottom of Blue's as they danced. Piper could feel her face heating up but could luckily use the excuse of being a new dancer to stare at her feet the entire time. 

She could feel Blue's intent gaze on her. It made her so small. She hated the tightening in her stomach, the shiver down her spine, the quavering to her breath. Piper wanted to ignore these symptoms of what was getting in the way of a perfectly good friendship, thank you very much.

Still, she burned under Blue, warm and radiant. She stared down at Blue's freckled hands, at her still stumbling feet, anywhere but up. 

If I look up, Piper thought, the crushing reality of it making her feel defeated. I'm not going to be able to control myself. 

So she didn't. 

Piper would probably excuse herself from Blue when they reached Goodneighbor. Maybe drink the swill down at the Third Rail and listen to Magnolia. Anything that would help kill whatever the heck was occupying most of her thoughts about Blue. 

Mostly, she focused on the song. It helped her keep time. As she paid attention to the lyrics, Piper frowned. "Not a very happy song to dance to, Blue."

"I mean, it's not wrong." Blue replied. After a moment, she added. "Think of something that makes you happy, then. It's just music."

 _You_ , was the first think that came to Piper's head. She killed the thought immediately, burying it deep, deep down in the places where her old drafts of stories went that would never see the light of day. She was refusing to let it live. 

No, not Blue. Anything else. Sugar Bombs. Nat. The paper. The mayor with a black eye. Anything. 

Yes, all those things made her happy. But the headrush and the swell of joy she felt when she was around Blue? Helping people with Blue? Feeling Blue's hands on her back - 

Blue ducked her for a dip, something Piper wasn't expecting while she was wrapped in thought. It caught her off guard and she yelled as she almost fell, her hand not on Blue's shoulder grasping desperately at Blue. Blue reached in for her as well, catching the reporter in her arms practically a half a foot before she'd have fallen flat on her back. 

"...Good catch." Piper gasped, looking up too late to see Blue leaning over her, her red hair frazzled around her face, staring at her with worry, amusement, and intensity. 

_Shit._

"Finesse of a Brahmin, huh?" Blue inquired, her face spreading out into a wide, victorious grin. 

"Oh, shut up." Piper groaned at her as Blue pulled her up. "You've got some moves, I'll give you that much." Returning to their dance, she remarked, "So you're.....suave. At least. A little."

"Suave, huh?" Blue said, spinning Piper once before the song arrived to a close. "Careful, a girl's gonna get a big ego with talk like that. What's gonna happen with that?"

What would happen with that? Piper spun back into Blue, chest to chest again as the song ended. They stood there like that for a second, Piper's hat disheveled from the dance, her hair in her face. Still, through it, she could see Blue looking back at her. Her breath pushed away her hair for a moment, their noses connected at the tips, neither backing away for a full second or two. 

Piper's heard Jet can slow time. Not that she's taken it, but she imagined this was what it must be like. 

They stood like that, Piper breathless. Neither moved for a full second, the music of the next song on the radio not being paid attention to. If she just moved in closer...

The sounds of gunshots in the streets brought them back to reality. They broke apart, Blue instinctually reaching for her modded pistol, Piper for her 10 millimeter. 

"We might have company." Blue murmured, her face darting toward the door. "We should probably get going."

Piper felt her stomach sink to her feet, but she nodded. She trailed behind Blue as Blue flicked the radio off with a swift motion and they snuck their way out of the library, silent as the grave. 

Blue forgot the desk fans.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry in advance about the length. Had a restless night, a quick chapter turned into a behemoth that I had to narrow down. Anyway, glad you guys are liking my first fic so far :) There's tidbits about my Sole Survivor in here so that's nice, I guess.

Her desk was just as she left it when she had went out last: covered in smatterings of paper and cigarette butts. Still, it was home to Piper, mess and all, as she typed the beginnings of her new article on her terminal.

The keys clacked loudly throughout the office, the only other noise beside the volume turned down low on her radio. It was fast approaching 4 AM - Piper always found inspiration to write after tossing and turning for a few hours. She didn't worry about the noise, though; Nat was out at her friend's house for some school project that the Science! Center had tasked the kids. 

"Dissecting a Bloatfly gland?" Piper had inquired some half a dozen hours previous, packing Nat a small snack in a Vault Tec lunchbox. "Well, at least you had it provided for you. Gotta say, those things are a lot uglier up close."

"Avery said she'd get get me a Deathclaw hand when she comes back from the Glowing Sea." Nat shrugged. "I just have to do this project in the meantime because Dr. Duff didn't believe I'd get one by the due date."

Piper stilled for a second in confusion; she was always thrown off whenever she heard Blue's real name. She remembered, back in the day, when she'd been trying to pry it out of Blue for the longest time. (Blue never told her, but when she'd finally been introduced to Codsworth, he greeted the vault dweller with a hearty " _Ah, Miss Avery! Are we having a guest for tea, then?_ " and Piper hadn't let her live it down for weeks). When she'd gotten it, it was just another piece of information about the enigma that was the walking talking Pre-War relic, but slowly, with how much time they spent together, she was just becoming Blue.

Blue didn't seem to mind. Piper and her didn't talk about her life before the War all that much - it was all a relic, just like her. Other than passing comments, Blue didn't really let on all that much about what her life was like before the bomb dropped. She seemed almost downright reluctant; with her old house the only dark, untouched spot in Sanctuary besides a small grave in the woods behind it and her unwillingness to even look Codsworth in the eye (eyes?), Blue didn't seem too attached to her Pre-War life in the means of sentimentality. She was starting fresh and new, and even her Pre-War name became a formality. 

Everyone's favorite vault dweller, the radio called her. But to Piper, she was just Blue, plain and simple.

Piper turned back to her piece - a first report on some kind of vigilante that popped up in Goodneighbor, of all places, known as the Silver Shroud. She cursed. Of course Blue would be occupying her thoughts when she was trying to focus. 

They - Nick, Piper, and Blue - had just arrived back late last night from their trip to Goodneighbor to visit the Memory Den, where they found their clue to the Institute's location in a man named Virgil in the Glowing Sea. Nick had suggested that he go with Blue to the Glowing Sea since he was a synth and immune to radiation. Piper had heard of the Glowing Sea once before as a wild, feral place teeming with nightmarish creatures, and her stomach started to knot up in slight dread as she imagined what it might contain. Blue and Nick set out, and Piper was left back in Diamond City.

Piper had been there in the Memory Den when it happened - hell, she'd been there at Fort Hagen, when she saw Blue crumble in on herself as she found out she was too late, that Shaun wasn't there - lounging back in a chair and watching with the doctor. Blue jokingly told her to take notes before she went under, but Piper was too transfixed watching the screen, lying back in her chair as Kellogg's memories flashed across in succession. She - they, technically, she has to remind herself. Nick, Blue, and Piper - watched Kellogg grow from a boy to a man, a man to a lover and father, a father to an Institute mercenary. It was -

It mostly went unspoken between the three of them, but that day, Kellogg went from "Kellogg, the bastard piece of shit that stole Shaun" to just "Kellogg". 

(When Piper peered in on the screen and saw a familiar face - her Blue, still in the cryopod in that Vault, she looked away. She didn't mind intruding on a dead man's memories, but she didn't want to intrude on her privacy. Nate's voice still rang in her ears, though.)

Still, a whole day later, Piper sat up in her office, only a few pages in on what should've been a full fledged article by now. Her thoughts were wrought with worry with every hour that passed, every hour that Blue could possibly be glowing with radiation, dead in a ditch from organ failure and wasting away -

Piper stood up, grabbing a cigarette with shaky fingers. No, Blue was fine, she really needed to stop worrying. She'd found a few extra Radaway lying around the office and stuffed them into Blue's bag without her noticing. She'd find them. She'd be fine. She'd be _fine._

"Keep it together, Pipes." Piper said aloud, taking a hit off her cigarette that hung by the precipice in shaky fingers. She wasn't sure if she was saying it to herself or to the empty house, but it didn't feel like anything other than empty, airless words. 

  


(Piper had confronted Blue before she left, while she was still packing her things. "If you come back lit up like a neon sign and sporting an extra arm, I'll never forgive you." 

"An extra arm?" Blue had her back turned to her, cleaning some caked Mirelurk blood off her pistol before stowing it away, the last thing she needed to pack. Stashing it in its, holster, she said, sarcasm thick in her voice, "All the better to shoot with."

"I'm serious, you know." Piper's voice was firm. "You better come back."

Putting the pistol down, Blue turned around for a second, her face still light and humorous. "When have you ever worried about me so much?"

Piper grumbled. "I worry about you pretty often. I can't count the amount of time you've nearly gotten us killed."

Blue took a few steps toward her. "Yeah, but I'm still here, we're still here. It's gonna take more than some sea to take me out." 

She wrapped her arms around the reporter before Piper could respond. Blue sighed against her, resting her head on top of Piper's. "I'll be back, Piper. Nothing could stop me from coming back."

Piper still felt the worry in her chest wanting to spill out, but she relaxed, if just for the moment, against Blue. She buried her face in her chest as Blue held onto her for not nearly long enough before parting. Blue shrugged her bag up on her shoulder from the coffee table, and then she was gone.)

  


Piper wasn't an expert on how long the trip would take but when it came to the seventh night into the eighth day, she was at her wits end. 

Another sleepless night spent tossing and turning on her creaky bed, thankful that Nat wasn't downstairs, Piper sat at her couch with a pack of cigarettes and a Nuka Cola from her new, working machine. They'd spent the previous night together - Piper finally got her edition on the Silver Shroud typed up and Nat and her spent the day distributing it into every corner of Diamond City they could find - but she was invited to Nina Rodriguez's home for a sleepover that night. Piper cheerfully packed her sweets, some clothes, and lectured her on the importance of staying inside the city and, no matter what, no poking around the upper stands and absolutely no troublemaking, whatsoever. 

With every passing day, Piper worried that Nat was becoming like her - thrill chasing, danger seeking, bound to get herself into trouble. Piper knew, deep down, she wasn't a good influence; even in the thick of it, she was excited every time they'd wander out into the Commonwealth and see how they were going to tempt death next. Her heart raced a little for the excitement of the wastes, despite having a few close calls, she yearned for the open road, occasionally making things better one bullet at a time. With Blue at her side, she was starting to feel a sense of purpose besides being cooped up in these four walls and typing out edition after edition.

 _Especially_ with Blue at her side. 

Blue had told her to just love Nat, no matter what. Piper smiled for a second - when she was younger, she was getting into exactly what she was trying to warn Nat against. She couldn't count the times her dad had grounded her for sneaking and snooping, only for her to conveniently find the key to the Wright family safe, grab a few caps, and do it all again. Her childhood adventures were fun, they were stupid, but Piper had a sensible head on her shoulders and didn't do anything _too_ stupid. She could only just hope that Nat would act the same way. 

She'd been wanting to tell Blue how much her advice meant to her. Hell, through it all, she wanted to make sure Blue knew just how much she meant to Piper. Most people avoided her since she took on the role of "town snoop", but Blue just came into her life out of nowhere and spun it on its head. 

_Crash, bam, alakazam. Wonderful you came by._

Piper felt a wave of anxiety come over her again. As much as she admired Blue, she had her faults: her default seemed to be "sarcasm" sometimes, especially when it came to pertinent information. She always overslept. She was careless sometimes to a point where Piper thought it was arrogance. She could slip in the shadows stealthily, but she'd just as rather take entire bands of Raiders head on with just a few magazines and a Molotov. It lead to some close situations before, but they always managed to get out of them or turn tail and run if it went too sour. Blue seemed to feel like she was invincible, something that Piper had to remind her constantly that she wasn't. 

Which is probably why Piper worried so much. Her Blue was as human as they all were. She could only put her trust in Nick - which she did, wholeheartedly, but constant "what ifs" crept into her thoughts.

Nick hadn't returned. Blue hadn't returned. What if they were dead? Piper wanted to scream into her pillow, or rather, to march over to Travis' home and take over Diamond City Radio for an emergency announcement to instruct Blue to get her ass home right this instant before she literally worried herself to death. 

_She's been gone an awfully long time. And if she's dead, you'll have never been able to tell her that you -_

Just at that moment, Piper heard a loud series of knocks at her door, jumping back at the sudden noise. 

"Piper, it's me, Nick. Can we come in?"

Piper leaped off the couch, rushing to the door and yanking it open as soon as she could. 

Nick's face was dimly lit in the low city light, but she could tell some of the wiring and the metal in his exposed Synth bits seemed a bit dented, wires frayed in more severe areas. He was sporting a large bruise on his face that made Piper gasp in shock, but not as much as when she saw Blue next to him. She leaned heavily on his arm that hold her steady and up, her hair a red curtain over some of her face. A small scar dipped above her eyebrow, as did a large series of bruises ranging in color that peeked out from the edges of her shirt...

Piper immediately rushed out to support Blue's other side with her body, feeling Blue sink into her.

"She's gonna be fine." Nick said, his piercing yellow eyes scanning over Blue for a second like he was studying her. "Had to wake up the good Doctor Sun for a late night visit, but he fixed most of the problem areas. Lots and Stimpacks and rest for this one," he patted her shoulder ever so slightly, like he was afraid Blue would break - perhaps she would. "But, well, I was wondering if she could stay at your place."

Piper already had her arm around Blue, who wheezed a bit at the touch - a cracked rib, perhaps. Blue looked up at her, her green eyes tired but happy. 

"Took a bit longer than expected." Blue coughed. "Not to mention a few Deathclaws. Have I...mentioned how much I hate Deathclaws?"

Piper looked back up at Nick. "She's - yeah, I can take her." 

"Thanks." Nick mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm not trying to dump her on you, it's just...Ellie told me to stop by as soon as I was in town. Something about Earl Sterling, seemed serious." Glancing around the empty house, he inquired, "Where's Nat?"

"Sleepover. And really, it's no problem." Piper was already taking Blue's things and tossing them haphazardly onto the couch and coffee table. She knew Nick's assistant had feelings for Earl - didn't take any investigation on either of their parts to tackle that one. Nick was protective over her, just like how he was protective over Piper and Nat when they'd first come into Diamond City (Piper really had to add him on her list of of people to tell about how much they meant to her). "And Nick...I'm glad you two are back."

"When she's more able, she'll tell you what went down." Nick said, glancing over at the very tired Blue. "I'll stop by later after she's slept most of the medicine off, but I think I'll leave you to it. Good night, then." 

Nick turned back and left through the door he came, leaving Blue and Piper alone in the house.

"Alright, come on." Piper murmured, grabbing onto Blue a bit tighter. "First things first, let's get you into my bed. You're barely conscious."

"Mmmm...sure." Blue mumbled a bit incoherently, letting Piper guide her up the steps gingerly, dropping off the semi-conscious Blue at her seat. Piper excused herself for a moment to clear the clutter off her desk - on the nights she hadn't been sleeping much, the bed made a great second desk - before getting a pair of relatively cleaner blankets. Blue could take the bed tonight - she'd take Nat's sleeping bag downstairs.

"You sure you want me to sleep here?" Blue asked. "I'm really fine on the couch-"

"No offense, Blue," Piper didn't let her finish. "you look like shit. You need some rest - I think I'll survive."

Blue muttered a thank you to Piper, sitting herself on the edge of the bed. Piper fished out a purified water for Blue, setting it down near the bed. "We can talk when you're rested. Holler if you need anything, I'll be downstairs-"

"Wait." Blue looked utterly defeated for a moment, helpless and frail. Piper's heart sunk at the sight of it - Blue was always so strong, never showed on how much she was hurting or how she felt. Piper felt like she was the only one Blue trusted with her emotions sometimes, but this severity of distress made Piper want to take Blue in her arms. 

She shrugged her armor slightly. "It's...I can't take it off. Hurts to lift my arm."

Piper looked down at the armor - buckled, dented in most places, Blue would probably have to go. She saw quite a few dark, reddish brown stains varying in size underneath it on her flannel and jeans, which Piper definitely worried about, but it was all gonna have to go. 

"Yeah, sure." Piper didn't realize why she suddenly felt a different kind of anxiety brewing within her. It was just armor. 

Kneeling before Blue sitting on the bed, she started with her leg armor, which came easily undone. Lifting the left plate revealed a new - bloodstain? Whatever it was, it looked nasty - underneath it, which Piper gasped at the sight of automatically. 

"Ghoul bite." Blue explained to Piper, who was still staring at her leg. "First day. It's much better, I just wasn't able to wash out most of the disgusting bits off my clothes."

"I'll..." Piper felt her words spilling out of her mouth. "I'll wash them for you. Shimmy up a bit so I can take off your jeans." 

Blue didn't say anything to that, moving up immediately, slowly. Piper looked at her face for any sign of change but mostly, it still looked pained and tired, crossed with something else she couldn't identify. 

She snapped at the button of her jeans, allowing Blue to lift her hips while she dragged them, carefully, down her body. Piper's eyes did her best just to stay at the jeans, but with every inch exposed, she felt tempted to wander. Blue's freckles, it seemed, were a whole body occurrence, practically turning her pale skin into whole patches of spots and specks in certain areas. Piper wondered just how far this went, but, with half a grimace, she guessed she was about to find out. 

Her armor on her arms came off with a bit more difficulty - Piper was careful not to move too much when she first heard a slight hiss of pain from Blue's lips. The chest plate came unbuckled, discarded to the foot of the bed with the rest of her armor, before Piper's hands made their way to Blue's first button. 

_Stop shaking. You won't get her shirt off of your hands are shaking the entire time. Keep it together, Piper, it's just clothing._

Seemingly controlling her nerves for a bit, she managed to get the first few buttons undone. That scar that peeked out from under her shirt revealed itself to be bigger and bigger the further down she undid her shirt, still hot and red in some places, but stitched up neatly by Dr. Sun. It zig-zagged from her neck, across the top of her chest, curving along the side of her body. Piper paused for a moment, looking down at it, sighing. "Oh, Blue..."

"Deathclaw." Blue explained weakly, looking down at it. "I was trying to be careful and safe and sniping it from afar because a certain someone imparted that knowledge on me before I left. It caught up, though. Hurt a lot less than it looks, but I guess that's what Med-X does to you."

Piper laughed a bit under her breath, her hand tracing over the bits over her collarbone that were scabbed over and painless. Blue was a bit sweaty to the touch, but she didn't mind. "If that Deathclaw hadn't killed you, I would have."

"I've got no doubt about it. If I were on death's door, I'd imagine you'd be the first to arrive, Stimpacks in hand, punching that Deathclaw and telling me how stupid I was."

"Not that me ever telling you how stupid you are has made a difference."

"Guess not, apparently. Look at me."

Piper did. Blue, sprawled out on her bed, Piper undressing her. In any other situation, this might've been something else, but Piper didn't want to allow her thoughts to even wander near that topic, not when she had to take care of Blue still.

Piper resumed to her task with newfound speed - she knew Blue wasn't wearing anything under that flannel and she was definitely not going to look. She stared at her arms - bit mangled that they were, they still carried Blue's freckles everywhere. 

When she took the stained shirt, Blue instinctively raised Piper's blanket to make herself decent. Piper stared at the sight for a second; were she not covered in various wounds and bruises, the sight of Blue naked in her bed, covered in her sheets might've been a sight to see. She felt her cheeks redden at the thought as Blue leaned back into the bed, her hair splaying across the pillow, wondering what it might look like if her back was arching off the bed, still covered in sweat but for an entirely different reason -

Piper looked away immediately, standing up tow She needed a cigarette. Or a Nuka Cola. Or both. 

"I'm gonna head to bed now, then. Don't you die on me in the night."

"Piper." Blue called out as Piper started to make away toward the stairs. The way she said her name in such a sweet tenderness made Piper want to cry or rush Blue into her arms. Or both, so long as she said her name like that - she didn't know her name could ever be said like _that_. 

Blue stared up at the reporter when Piper turned her head back over her shoulder, a soft smile on her face. "You...you take such good care of me. Especially now. I don't know how to return the favor."

Piper smiled back at Blue. "You don't have to. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah." Blue stared back for a moment - she looked a bit restless, exhausted as she was, like she wanted to get up. A few seconds of silence passed between them before, sighing, Blue sunk a bit more into the bed. "But thank you, anyway."

"Anytime." Piper looked over to the desk, curiously. "Radio on or off tonight?"

Blue gave a half hearted chuckle, her eyes becoming heavy with sleep. "Come on, I haven't been away that long. When would I ever say 'off'?"

Piper sauntered over to it, clicking it on. The beginnings of a song - "One More Tomorrow" - rang throughout the room at a comfortable level. 

"Night then, Blue. Try not to bleed on my mattress."

"Night."

Piper headed down the stairs, softly at first, but pacing down when she looked back and saw Blue already beginning to nod off. Her heart was at ease at last from its worry, but that didn't stop Piper's heart from fluttering as she went through half of the rest of her pack in a single sitting. She fell asleep at last on the couch, exhaustion having finally caught up to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I hate the "forced to share a bed" trope. (I'm lying. I love the "forced to share a bed" trope. I will face God and walk backwards into shipper hell.)
> 
> I'm genuinely apologetic for the length that this is turning into. Somebody stop me before I lose myself.

Catching her breath against the rusted frame of a Pre-War car, Piper reloaded her 10 millimeter under the safety of partial cover. Their motive had been simple enough - travel north to Tenpines Bluff to talk to settlers about some troubles that they faced. Traveling along the roads of the Commonwealth, however, was a feat easier said than done. 

There was a Raider on the outcropping of stone roughly at one o'clock, another at ten. Ever the tactician, Piper waited until the heavy footfalls of boots against stone were muffled by the sounds of earth. Then, the Raider would be close enough to shoot. Then...

Bam. When she heard the Raider get close, she popped up from behind the car. A bullet striked past her forearm and she cried out at the pain, but her aim was true. The Raider crumpled in on himself as the bullet filleted him through the lung, gurgling as he fell. 

She heard a similar bang to the left of her. Whipping around, she just managed to catch the other Raider fall to her knees, blood spurting from a well placed bullet between the eyes, Blue triumphantly muttering something under her breath. 

"At this point, it's just showing off." Piper rolled her eyes at Blue, who twirled her gun before holstering it for effect. 

Blue, sweat on her brow, grinned at Piper before giving her a once over. Blue's eyes caught Piper's arm and her cocky look immediately melted into worry. "Piper!"

"S'fine." Piper grumbled - she could feel the dull sting of the wound now, it would only get worse as the adrenaline wore off. "Just a graze."

Blue ignored Piper completely, reaching out for her arm gingerly. When Piper inadvertently hissed inwardly in pain, Blue gave the reporter a very stern look. "We're gonna stitch this up, this is pretty bad."

"In the middle of the road?"

"No, not in the middle of the road." Blue explained. "The old Taffington boat house is about fifteen minutes upaways. I'll patch you up there."

Piper shrugged her shoulder away, trying her best to conceal her grimace as she did to preserve her dignity. "Just stimpack me then, we've got to make it to the bluff."

"Stimpacks are good, but they aren't perfect. It'll get infected if it's not stitched up." Blue crossed her arms. "I think the good people of Tenpines Bluff can survive another night - I made sure to put in another turret before I left since the last Raider attack took out a spotlight. Besides," she looked out at the darkness that was swelling around them. "It's getting late and we've been out for a while. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired."

The pain was currently more distracting than the sleep deprivation that Blue and Piper were racking up between various missions, but Blue had a point. Piper hated it when Blue was right, even more so than she hated when Blue was wrong (which was astonishingly often). 

"You're...you're right." Piper let out a long, drawn out sigh. "You cleared that old place out, right?" 

"Me and Codsworth. Scrapped a few things in there so it's a little bare at the moment, but it's safe."

Piper grabbed some travel fuel out of her coat pocket - damn that Raider to the hell he deserved, he shot a hole in her favorite coat! - and popped it in for good measure before looking up at Blue. "Shall we, then?"

  
Piper was glad she agreed to Blue's idea the more she walked. Every step she took seemed to shoot a direct line of pain to the nasty wound in her arm, which caused her to hiss in pain and mutter silent curses. Her good arm held the wounded one in place - moving it ever so slightly caused it to flare up. Blue stuck a few paces ahead to watch the road for any signs of movement, turning back ever so often to shoot a concerned look in Piper's direction whenever she cried out a little too much.

They reached the boat house in a short amount of time. Piper headed up the stairs immediately; Blue wasn't kidding when she said she stripped the house. The sleeping bags and the living room (minus the couch and cooking station) were all but gone, but she saw the faint glow of light from the second floor bedroom. 

Sitting down on the bed - definitely new, definitely bigger. Blue had quite the taste when it came to home decorating - sinking into the springs a bit. Piper schooched over so Blue could plop her bed onto the bag. Given that Blue was a lawyer in her Pre-War life, she'd picked up a surprising amount of knowledge the school of field medicine as she adjusted to life in the Commonwealth, something that had saved both of their hides on multiple occasions. She was no Doctor Sun, but it was simple stitches, something Piper had seen her doing to herself on a small handful of occasions.

"You haven't died, yet." Blue rifled into her bag for supplies. "Completed step one."

Piper rolled her eyes. "You've really got to work on your bedside manner."

Blue didn't look up from her search but cocked an eyebrow at the comment. "Guess that's why I'm not a doctor, then."

"Yeah, you're just a wandering psychopath with a useless law degree."

Blue gave an exaggerated gasp. "Piper Wright, you wound me. Do you treat all of your friends like this?"

"Only the ones that deserve it." As if Piper had many other friends anyway, but that wasn't exactly _ad rem_ information - not that Blue would have found it pathetic, since Blue wasn't that kind of person, but Piper always worried that she might. "And, if I recall, I'm the only wounded person here."

Blue gathered her supplies in her arms. "Yeah, getting to that." Tossing aside a magazine from the spare pile, she commented. "Hope the Massachusetts Surgical Journal taught me something."

"I've seen firsthand what exactly the Massachusetts Surgical Journal has taught you." Piper closed her eyes, giving a long sigh. "Please don't turn me into a fillet."

Blue didn't respond to that, flicking on the radio before settling down in front of Piper on her knees. Of _course_. 

The vault dweller pulled her red hair back in a tight pony and put her eyeglasses on before grabbing her small field medical kit. She grabbed at the lapels of Piper's jacket, looking up at her. "This is definitely gonna have to go."

She helped Piper out of her scarf first, her hands lightly dragging against her neck as she did so. Luckily, the fact that Piper had been shot at was enough distraction from whatever nuisance of a feeling that touch might've brought. 

It still felt nice, and Piper cursed to herself. Ever since that night in Diamond City when Blue came back from the Glowing Sea - a lot earlier than that if she really thought about it, probably from the stupid moment Blue arrived out of nowhere, a fish out of water look to her as she helped Piper lie her way back into Diamond City - Blue was occupying a lot of her thoughts. It was more innocent and definitely more platonic at first, but the more Piper delved into it, the more she wanted to accept the dawning realization that Blue might've ended up the most important person in her life by complete accident. 

Piper didn't want to ruin anything by allowing any thoughts that weren't platonic to take root in her head, but Piper admired just about everything about Blue. Her selflessness, her humor, hell, even her arrogance. She was intelligent, witty, kind, strong, so, so wonderful without even knowing that she was one of a kind. Downright perfect at times, if Piper was to be completely honest. 

That wasn't to say that all of Piper's thoughts were admirable. She'd caught herself multiple times having to break her gaze after it lingered too long, making sure Blue would never catch her with a red face after she did something so hairbrainedly perfect to put her in such a predicament in the first place. She thought about Blue's hands just about every time she picked up a gun, wondering what they'd feel like if she wasn't wounded right now and Blue was taking her scarf off, covering her newly exposed neck in soft kisses...

"He-llooo? Can you hear me in there? I have to take off your jacket now and I'd appreciate some help."

Blue's voice shook Piper out of her train of thought - a weird expression, since railroads were supposedly a myth, but nonetheless appropriate. She shrugged back, wincing a bit after moving her bad arm, leaving her in nothing but the usual black t-shirt that she wore underneath.

Blue discarded Piper's jacket and scarf at the foot of the bed before turning back to Piper. She stared a little at Piper's shirt, her face seemingly perplexed for a moment before half cocking itself into a grin. 

"Always wondered what you had underneath that big jacket." Blue murmured, still looking down at Piper's torso. "Why do you wear that big thing, anyway?"

Piper looked back at her jacket for a moment, her eyes not wanting to meet Blue's as she frowned at it. "I - it was my dad's."

Blue's smile fell immediately, looking up at Piper's face and her hands going to Piper's. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"S'fine." She had told Blue about her father's murder before. When she was a lot younger and a little softer to the hardships that life in the Commonwealth brought, just talking about her dad might've brought tears to her eyes. As life went on, that sorrow turned to a bitter, empty feeling that would probably never be filled, a harrowing, empty void in what could've been a well-emotionally rounded Piper. It was part of what made her who she was, though - she uncovered Mayburn, moved to Diamond City, started the paper, met Blue. She wanted to make a difference for the people in the Commonwealth because of it; she didn't want people to feel that kind of pain if she could prevent it. 

Maybe that's why Blue and her got along so well. They both knew loss. 

Blue threaded the needle, grabbing Piper's arm gingerly. "This is probably gonna hurt a fucking bunch. There's no easy way to put it. So...here we go."

"It probably won't hurt tha-son of a FUCK." Piper bit her lip when the needle pierced her skin, feeling the irony taste of blood on her tongue as Blue continued with her handiwork. It took a few minutes interjected with Piper yelping when it got too much to bear, but it was over before she knew it. 

"All done." Blue turned to put her medical supplies away, taking off her glasses. "It might scar, but I officially diagnose you as 'Going To Live'."

Piper let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding during the entire ordeal, finally catching her breath. "Thanks, Blue."

Blue stood up to sit on the bed next to Piper. "No problem." 

She started at the laces of her boots. "It's the least I could do. Especially, you know, after last week." She paused. "You know, I never thanked you. For after the Glowing Sea-"

"You don't need to thank me." Piper held her good hand up to stop her in her place. "You were on death's door. Besides, you slept off most of it."

Blue's hands reached up to grab Piper's outstretched one. Piper immediately felt a shock go through her entire body at the contact, but Blue kept talking. "No, I mean - what I'm trying to say - you take such good care of me. And then. You took care of me then. I'm - I'm really not good at this, but you should know. You're one of the first people I saw when I came out of the Vault and you've helped me so much since then. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't met you.

"I want - well," Blue was stumbling over her words at this point. "You mean a lot to me. I hope you know that."

Piper was knocked speechless, looking up at Blue in the eyes, shocked to find such intensity in her gaze. After a moment, she gave Blue's hand a small squeeze.

"I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't met you, too." she admitted after a pause. With half a laugh, she added. "I probably wouldn't be in Diamond City."

Blue snorted. "You'd have found a way back in. You've never stopped yourself from pursuing what you wanted before."

_Oh, you have no idea._

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Piper said. "But it still needs saying. And, Blue, thank you."

Piper felt her heart soaring and for once, she let it out of the cage she imprisoned it within. This felt so right - how could it not be so right? Blue, her Blue, with her hand in hers, in this moment. The way Blue made her feel - feather light and wondrous - what was so wrong about that?

The fact that Blue's got her own life and wouldn't ever think twice about a loud and pushy reporter. Oh, right. As soon as she gave her heart wings she felt the wax begin to melt when they flew too close to the fire that was Blue, sending her plummeting back down once again. Blue was dealing with so much, Piper realized. Why would Blue fall for someone like her?

Blue kept holding her hand through Piper's inner turmoil. With a heavy heart, Piper was the first to pull away, reaching for her jacket at the edge of the bed. 

"Well, thanks, Blue." Her voice turned into a yawn; Blue had been right, they were sleep deprived and as invincible as they were sometimes, they were human. "I'm gonna head downstairs on the couch, then. Good ni-"

"Wait, what?" Blue got herself off the bed, shaking her head. "You just had stitches. You're taking the bed."

"And you got intimate with a Deathclaw last week, you're taking the bed!" 

"That was a week ago, this is now. Take the bed, Piper."

"Ugh, Blue, you're impossible!" Piper got up toward Blue, grabbing her forearm. With lightning quick reflexes, Blue grabbed her outstretched arm and spun her around backward so she was facing the bed again. 

Blue's breath was warm in her ear; Piper felt her knees go weak for a moment, shuddering a bit from the feeling. "I wasn't asking, Piper. Take it."

Piper took a breath to stabilize herself a little, her nagging thoughts reminding her that, yes, those were Blue's lips practically on her ear and that if she just turned around they'd be face to face and -

"Blue," Piper found courage to not make her voice shake, but her insides were in tremors. She gave a once over of the bed that Blue had pieced together. Blue must've managed to find a larger than average mattress for this one, a mostly intact quilt for a covering and - were those actual comfy pillows? Christ. It was almost too luxurious to give up. Almost...

"It's big enough to share." Piper was rather grateful that she couldn't see Blue's face right now. "But if you snore in my ear, I'll sleep in the river." 

Blue was silent for half a beat - Piper felt her heart catch in her throat. Had she said something wrong? 

At last, she released her gentle grip on Piper. The radio tinned from Blue's Pip Boy, which Blue went to unbuckle before grabbing at her chest plate straps and starting to unbuckle and unfasten those. "I'm slightly offended that you think I'm a snorer."

Good. Blue seemed along for the idea. Which made Piper realize, shit, Blue was along for the idea. 

"I'm not saying I've heard you snore before," Piper quipped. It was easy to fall back into their regular banter, no matter how hot and bothered Piper would inadvertently get. "but I've totally heard you snore before."

Piper heard the clinking of armor behind her as Blue fully discarded her defenses, walking forward and herself in the bed in her undershirt and pants. She slipped into the quilt, giving out a low groan as she relaxed into the mattress. "That happens, you kick me in the ribs as hard as you can."

Piper stood for a moment before finally putting her jacket next to Blue's armor, taking off her press cap and lying it on top of the mess. Mussing her hand through her hair. "Well, now that you're giving me permission..."

Blue's voice was already thick with sleep, but she laughed. "Great. I'm gonna macerate away in my sleep. Taking me down while I've got no defense."

Piper crawled in under the sheets, the bed creaking as she shifted her body to face away from Blue. "It'd be fitting. If anything would be taking you out, after all we've been through, it'd be my feet in your chest because of your loud mouth."

Blue's voice was half muffled by the pillow. "How romantic." 

Piper felt herself relax into the springy mattress and a few minutes passed between them, sleep threatening to crash over her like a wave, when Blue mumbled behind her. "I forgot to turn the radio off."

Piper was beyond moving at this point. "I hardly notice it anymore and you like it on. I don't mind."

Blue grumbled something incoherently behind her, her breathing getting heavier. She scooted towards Piper in an effort to grab more of the blanket, staying there when she attained it, her chest against Piper's back. 

Any chance of sleep that Piper had was gone in a moment. She felt Blue's warmth radiate behind her as her body fit into hers, almost perfectly, her breath on her back. After a few minutes of stillness, listening to the radio to distract herself, Blue grumbled once more before her arm stretched out again, pulling at Piper. Her arm snaked around the reporter, pulling her in even closer to her body until they were flush. Blue buried her face in Piper's shoulder, her face twitching a little in her sleep. 

Piper sighed into Blue's touch, wrapping her own arm around Blue's heavy appendage, snuggling a bit back into Blue. 

Blue couldn't have known how Piper felt, Piper realized, or this would be downright cruel. She sunk into Blue's arm draped over her - it felt secure and safe. Piper felt herself drown into Blue's radiating heat, her own arm wrapping up to grab Blue. Her heart grew bitter - this was all she wanted as of recent. Why couldn't she enjoy it? It was practically intoxicating. Piper wanted nothing but this. 

Deep down at heart, Piper knew she was a wanter. She wanted to many things - she wanted to keep Nat safe and happy and be the best older sister she could. She wanted to uncover truth that was hidden or discarded. She wanted to keep people safe from the horror that was the Commonwealth - and the horrific people that inhabited it - in the ways she could: either with her paper or her pistol.

Piper was fierce in her wants. She always charged headfirst, guns blazing and reckless, into the abyss over things that she wanted or pursued, coming back with the various damages that that would bring but always (usually) triumphant. She was a fire that was unable to be stopped when it came to the things she wanted, but she had never wanted anything quite like she desired Blue.

The way she desired Blue was soft and light, which frightened Piper a little if she was completely honest. Her wanting was nothing like the fire of her previous wants, but it was a constant yearning that was poking into her every second and it made Piper want to scream half the time. She _wanted_ Blue. She wanted her hand in hers, she wanted her by her side after a long day on the road. She wanted to take care of Blue, keep her sound and as emotionally secure as Piper could. She wanted to make Blue happy - every time she made Blue smile stoked that small desire a little bit, she had such a beautiful smile. She wanted to fall asleep, like this, with Blue for as many nights as she could. She _physically_ wanted Blue, which she really did not want to admit, but she did. Even now, Piper wondered what would happen if, were Blue awake, she turned around and pressed her trembling lips into Blue's, Blue's arms holding her as they grabbed at the bottom of Piper's undershirt. How, never breaking from Blue's lips the entire time, she'd run her hungry hands all over her torso, lower and lower until she could grab at the button of her pants and -

_But you can't have this. You'll never have any of this._

The radio faded into nothing around the room. Heart still hammering, Piper felt nothing but warmth as she slipped into sleep, not even noticing the beginnings of a slight snore coming from Blue behind her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I'm just gonna keep saying "I'm sorry for the length" every chapter, probably. Holy shit, nine pages on Microsoft Word.
> 
> (ALSO I CANNOT believe I've let my fic description go with a typo for six chapters dishonor on me dishonor on my cow)

"I can't believe you drink that stuff straight."

Blue lazily swirled her drink, her hand loosely gripped around the glass of whiskey. "It's no Grey Goose, but it's good enough. I've learned not to be picky when half of my preferred liquors are nonexistent thanks to nuclear fallout." 

Piper shook her head, taking a dainty sip of her preferred drink of choice - not that Piper was much of a heavy drinker anyway. Blue had forked over the caps to buy a house in Diamond City and when she'd invited her "new neighbor" Piper over for a "housewarming" (apparently some kind of Pre-War tradition, Blue had told her), Piper couldn't refuse. 

She shrugged back after a second. "Or you're just drinking the pain away. God knows I am."

Piper and Blue had arrived in Diamond City the night before. They had been able to track a Courser using Virgil's data to the C.I.T. ruins and extract the chip from the Synth - but not before running into an army of Gunners beforehand throughout the building's various floors. Piper remembered crawling up each set of stairs, her heart beating rapid time in her chest and a cold sweat on her body as the very real possibility of them not making it out alive increased with each step forward...

But they had made it. They always did. Statistically, Piper realized, Blue and her should have died multiple times because of Blue's uncanny ability to charge headfirst into trouble with about as much grace as a bull in a china shop. Somehow, they always got out of it. There was always a rabbit up their sleeve that saved them in the nick of time. 

So naturally, when they made it back to Diamond City in one piece, they booked a room in the Dugout Inn (not wanting to wake up poor Nat with the two of them stomping in during witching hours) and Blue bought a house the next day with the ridiculous amount of caps with the caps she'd scavenged over their numerous adventures.

Blue and Piper sat on the roof of Blue's new house, dangling their limbs over the edge as they stared out into the small sea of lights in the night sky. The dull, nighttime glow of the Diamond City market dully glowed underneath them, casting them both in soft golden and neon lights. Blue had her whiskey and had introduced Piper to the idea of mixing it with Nuka Cola, which made the stuff a little more tolerable in Piper's opinion. 

As beautiful as the scene was, Piper, for a moment, wondered what this new house meant for the two of them. Diamond City became a home base for the two of them - close enough to Nick's, free access to workbenches for Blue, Nat and the paper for Piper and, because of rescuing Vadim from Raiders in an effort to boost Travis' confidence, cheap rooms and drinks at the Dugout. Blue occasionally crashed on the couch of Publick Occurences, not quite the sister's third roommate but not enough a stranger to not be pestered and pranked by Nat. 

Most nights on the road, however, were spent with the two of them together. They both had separate sleeping bags still, but they ended up waking up face to face and pressed close. Piper secretly loved the rare occasions when they might find a safe haven that had a bed, for they both ended up sleeping together those nights. Mornings were luxurious and infinitely better, no matter through rain or shine or radiation storm, when Piper woke up in Blue's arms. 

The new house - "Home Plate", it was named technically in the paperwork - was a bit sparse, but Blue was slowly settling her things in throughout the day's passing. It warmed Piper's heart that Blue was finally feeling at place somewhere in the Commonwealth, but a selfish part of her wondered what lie in store. Blue, her friend, confidant, partner in crime, and object of her unrequited affection - now practically her next door neighbor. 

Blue made a loud, exaggerated groan. "Don't remind me. Makes me regret every second that I ever spent at C.I.T."

Piper's eyebrow arched. "Did you get your law degree at C.I.T.?"

Blue waved her hand dismissively. "No, C.I.T. was a technical school Pre-War. I went to Harvard, which, uh," Blue looked a bit awkward. "It was a bit of a big deal, back in the day."

"Didn't know you should be taken in such high esteem." Piper snorted a little loudly, feeling the familiar heat of drunkenness come to her cheeks. "Should I start addressing you as 'Professor'? Or 'Your Highness'?"

"I'm not trying to brag!" Blue retorted, face a bit red in embarrassment. "It was just a bit of Pre-War Commonwealth trivia. It was a 5 minute drive from my college - I had a girlfriend who went there so I was on campus pretty often." 

Piper choked on the drink she was in the middle of drinking. " _Girlfriend_?!" 

A look of recollection crossed Blue's as the redhead's face scrunched tight in thought. "Yeah. Natalie. I think for...three or four months, yeah, that. She left me for her roommate."

"I - oh." Piper cleared her throat a bit. "Sorry, I just always assumed you were straight. Just because, you know...husband." After a bit of an awkward pause, she added for good measure (and not to leave the topic on her dead husband). "Also based on the fact that you've seemed pretty much asexual for all the time I've known you."

"Nope." Blue popped the last syllable. "I swing my swatter both ways. And, in defense, you haven't been making any moves on anyone in the time I've known you, not a single soul."

Piper shook her head. "No. No, no, no. I'm just -" Oh God. Piper's words stumbled out awkwardly as she tried to backpedal. "I'm - I'm not one for - one night stands aren't my preferred method. 

"I guess," Her thumbs cartwheeled over each other. "I like something to be real before it gets...intimate."

Blue listened patiently as Piper stumbled over her words, but shot her a smile when she'd gotten her chance to speak. "That's entirely fair. I could say I feel the same way, I guess."

Piper wasn't sure if this newfound information brought her any comfort. It gave her a chance, sure, that she might've been noticed by Blue as something more, but that was too hopeful for her. Hope was a dangerous thing to hold to in the Commonwealth - she could try to bring it to others, but herself? It was too much to ask.

"There's so much I don't know about you." Piper murmured. She shot up in a second once she realized what she'd said, feeling Blue shift slightly next to her. "Not - not that I don't know anything about you now, obviously. I meant...who you were. Before you were my Blue. Not that you have to talk about it -"

"Your Blue?" Blue's smirk widened. Piper wanted to bury her head in her hands. 

"I mean - I mean obviously - you're not mine, per say-"

"No, I like it." Blue said, the slightest slur in her voice. "Your Blue. Piper's Blue." 

Piper was knocked momentarily speechless, which Blue didn't seem to notice, because she continued. "And, y'know, if you want to ask, ask away. I'm certainly drunk enough and I just bought a house. It's a special night. C'est la vie, and all that shit."

Blue's face seemed to brighten as Piper saw her inner cogs working - something that usually ended up in trouble. "But only on the condition that I get to ask you things as well. You're rubbing off on me and I'm getting nosy."

"I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a compliment." Piper topped off her drink with a little more Nuka Cola.

Blue, meanwhile, grabbed the open bottle of liquor next to her and gave herself about three fingers worth. She handed the bottle to Piper, who added a splash to her glass. 

"If I see this in any newspaper tomorrow morning, though, I'll never trust you again." Blue added in post, a teasing tone to her voice. "You can start."

"Please, as if you'll be functional tomorrow morning, what with the amount you're drinking." Piper mocked at Blue, who gave a half hearted, guilty look back. She further added. "Were you always a drunkard?"

"Drunkard sounds so classless. I prefer 'alcohol enthusiast'." Blue crossed her arms, her nose in the air for added effect. After a beat, still lightheartedly, she added. "But, in seriousness, no. I liked to drink sometimes and was admittedly a scotch collector for a while. Had a bottle of 40 year Balevine that I got as a gift when I became co-head attorney at the firm - if caps were dollars, it could have bought this house twice. Was the first thing I wanted to find when I unfroze, besides...the obvious." Blue grimaced for a microsecond, something Piper only caught because of how much she was paying attention intently to Blue's face the entire time. 

Piper felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward in a conniving grin. "Step out of being frozen for two hundred years, first thing you plan on is getting trashed. If that isn't the most Bluest Blue thing I've ever heard." 

The grimace that Piper had noticed for a small moment became a bit more apparent and turned into a frown. Blue's pep visibly deflated, her shoulders sagging a bit. "I've no idea if it's still there. I can't go back in the house."

Piper's hand immediately reached out for Blue's shoulder. Not many people had the privilege of touching Blue - most times, Blue shrunk away from most touch. Her interactions with Nick were brief. Preston had, at most, clapped Blue on the back for a well placed shot or vice versa when they all went on various Minutemen missions. Her and MacCready hugged maybe once, which was uncomfortable for all parties involved. Curie was very eager to touch and hug her first few days in her new body, which Blue didn't deny, but when Blue had found a stray cat and brought it to the scientist it became the most pampered animal in the Commonwealth. Cait was the worst offender of all, grabbing onto Blue, murmuring close to her ear, her hands constant on Blue while drunk or high or both.

Blue swatted Cait away playfully most nights. The small touches, the hugs, the holding - that seemed to be Piper's privilege alone. Hell, they slept together most nights: at this point, it was unspoken. Piper had the a-okay. 

"M'fine." Blue let out, sitting up after a second. Piper's hand still rested on her shoulder. "It's my turn to ask, anyway." She leaned more into Piper, her drunken weight heavy on the reporter's small frame. Her head lolled onto Piper's shoulder, her voice warm in her ear. "My question, then. What's the most trouble you've ever gotten yourself into? Paper or otherwise."

Piper froze entirely. Blue's breath in her ear sent a shudder down her entire body. She closed her eyes, took in a staggering breath to try to steady herself. _Come on, think. Answer the question._

"A story I was chasing a year or two ago on a chem cartel." The story flashed behind her closed eyes as she began to recall. "Had some kind of new Jet that was killing people - cut costs, but something was wrong with it and I'd traced it to the source. They had a small hovel outside the city where you could meet up with the kingpin. I - well, took a bit of acting on my part, but I posed as a Jet addict to gain entry."

"Hard to imagine you hanging out with Raiders." Blue's eyebrows furrowed, but she was entirely engrossed. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No - not too bad." When Blue's look of concern turned to worry, she leaned her head on top of Blue's. She rubbed Blue's back up and down. "Hey, I'm alright. Nothing I couldn't handle. Scrapes and bruises and a stab in the leg before I got away and published about it. Apparently the operation got shut down after some 'customer complaints' ended up in the building burning down."

"Doesn't mean I don't worry." Blue's eyes looked distant. "I worry about you often."

"You can't have worried about me before you knew me." Piper still wrapped her arm around Blue. "But it's still nice. Thanks, Blue." 

Blue hummed low in response, sinking into Piper a bit. The combined drunkenness of the two of them left them with lowered guard - combined with the safety (or, at least, the illusion of it) that Diamond City provided, they both felt relaxed and at ease. They sat like that a few moments, Piper lazily drawing patterns over Blue's back. 

An eyebot passed underneath them, filling the marketplace with the soft echo of Diamond City a Radio. Blue nuzzled a bit into Piper's neck, humming along with a familiar song. Piper still stilled at the contact, but she excused it on their current states of mind. 

"I think it's my turn for a question." Piper quipped after a few moments together. "I'm curious about Pre-War. Take me through your average day - sorry, has to be a question, right? What was it like?"

Blue's face remained in Piper's neck, her voice vibrating against it slightly. "Let me think for a second." 

She sat up for a moment, running her hand through her hair. "I'd...wake up, head to work. Codsworth took care of...Shaun while I was at work. I head to the offices - close to here -"

"What was being a lawyer like?" Piper couldn't help but interrupt, but it was her entire life before all of this. Curiosity might kill her. 

"Asking multiple questions, are we?" Blue raised her eyebrows, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth for a moment. "I'll get you back for that. But, uh, I was a prosecutor. In Pre-War America, there were laws that protected everybody." Blue seemed to be trying to find the right words, pursuing her lips. "You couldn't just get thrown away in jail to rot away for the rest of your life - you had to be found guilty by a jury made up of other citizens. It was usually one person versus another, depending on what the nature of what happened, but I was a prosecuting attorney. I represented, mainly, the government and law itself, and my job was to find evidence against persons tried for things like murder and arson and, well, things that seem to have become everyday occurrences."

"So you...locked people up?"

"Yes and no." Blue took a swig of her whiskey. "At the end of the day, a court case was just one lawyer versus another trying to convince the jury that we were right. We collected evidence and interviewed people and tried to tear the other down to make our sides more convincing. It was pretty soul sucking at times. I was damned good at what I did, but the laws weren't perfect. They could bend. I saw people I believed guilty walk away and innocent people get locked up."

Piper seemed to wrap her head around the idea, hanging on Blue's every word. "That must've been difficult."

"Yeah, it was. It made me feel helpless." Blue looked onward at the marketplace, her eyes beyond the Wall. "There's...an odd comfort. In being able to solve things directly like this. No more long nights researching and dancing through legal loopholes. Just bullets and talking and quick feet."

Blue laughed for a moment, a bit of a wistful look to her. "I really am a relic, aren't I?" 

Piper shot her a smile. "Better than half the stuff you carry around all day."

"Can't avoid teasing me for one night, can you?" Blue grinned, the offense not taken. "You know, back in the day, I used to hate reporters. Always twisted the public opinion too much, since our job was all about being as unbiased and factual as possible." 

The reporter gave Blue a look of false indignation. "You, the Mayor, and Diamond City security all share the same opinion, then. You still hate reporters?"

Blue clicked her tongue. "I might've changed my mind along the way. Now, are you gonna let me get along with my questions or what?"  
  
  
The rest of the night continued along smoothly. Blue had to crack open another bottle of whiskey and some more Nuka Colas, for as the questions rolled off their tongues, the drinks kept going down. Piper knew they were gonna forget most of the small details at the pace they've been drinking at, but she tried to keep a mental tab of as much as she could remember. 

Blue's favorite color was blue, ironically. Last name is Bishop - not Nate's last name, as her and Nate had been separated a bit before Shaun was born. Favorite season was spring. Favorite smell was lilac, which Piper didn't know what that meant, but apparently it was a type of flower that existed before the War. Likes swimming, loves dresses, misses the movies, makeup, and fast food more than anything else Pre-War that was easy to buy. First fought a boy named Jonas Pide in the second grade for being a bully and that's how she got that scar above her eyebrow. Didn't have any siblings, but grew up to a single parent above a car garage - the owner had several dogs and taught her the first bits of tinkering she knew. Her first kiss was Nate's older brother, Brandon, at a teenaged game of spin the bottle. Piper had gotten the answers and more and gave her own answers in return. 

"My first kiss??" Piper laughed a little loudly when Blue asked her the same question back. "Okay, okay, you have to promise not to laugh."

"Mmhmm, all ears, babe." Blue's words dragged on - the alcohol hit her like a brick wall an hour ago. 

"Okaaaay." Piper shifted a little in her seating so her head rested on Blue's chest; somehow, through the multiple drinks and the temperature falling they still sat on the roof of the Home Plate, Piper practically sat on Blue's lap. Her legs dangled over to the side, Piper's head lay at home on Blue's chest. Their respective sat to the side for the moment with the empty bottles - both knew risking any more drinking (for now) wouldn't yield positive results. 

"Guy in the militia in the settlement I grew up in. He was sixteen and I was fourteen, he was so strong and dark and muscular. Looked...a bit like Preston, really, but if Preston was a half foot taller and had long, braided hair that was really pretty and soft-"

"I get it. He was a fuckin' dreamboat." Blue snorted. "Does this mystery militiaman have a name?"

"Uh...something stupid that he made up. I want to say Edge. Or Blade." Piper felt Blue's chest begin to rise and fall in silent laughter, but she continued. "He bet me that if he could hit a target dead on, I owed him a kiss. Out he pulls his rifle and out he shoots - but he wasn't directly on target. I kissed him anyway for the effort."

Blue shifted a little bit in her positioning, allowing Piper more space to snuggle up. Piper happily obliged, feeling the rumble of Blue talking against her cheek. "Your first mistake was kissing a guy named Edge. Or Blade. Or whatever his name was, that's such a stupid name."  


"Says someone named Blue."

"I was named Avery, after my great grandmother. I got the name Blue, which I much prefer, from someone who has tastes for men with names like Edge."

Piper giggled. "Well, har har. Like you didn't do anything stupid as a teenager. He ended up blowing his foot off with a mine and became a farmer."

"'Least I'm not as stupid as Edge, then." Blue grumbled. "I'm more offended, after all we've been through, that you'd be impressed by someone with such poor aim." 

"I was fourteen." Piper defended. "And all I was at that point was a snoop. Anyone who could hold a gun was impressive to me."

Blue shifted her position completely, groaning a bit as she leaned back on her hands to stand herself up. "You wanna see impressive? I'll show you impressive."

Piper heard shifting and the clanking of bottles behind her. When she heard the familiar click of a gun being loaded, she stood as well and whipped around entirely. "Blue?!"

Blue held her pistol in one hand, an empty bottle in another. With a grin, she explained. 

"I'm gonna shoot _this fuckin' thing_ -" Blue gestured grandiosely at the empty Nuka Cola bottle. "With this. And it's gonna be an impressive shot. And if you don't think it's better than Edgy Halffoot's half assed attempt at wooing you, I'll eat Brahmin shit." 

Piper frowned a little bit. "You're reaaaally drunk."

"Still not gonna stop me."

Piper had no time to cry out for Blue to stop. With one great overhand toss, Blue chucked the Nuka Cola bottle high in the air. Piper watched it spin overhead, neck over bottom, until it leaked right above the Diamond City market at peak height. Blue's free hand rushed to Blue's pistol immediately, steadying it inebriated hands. Her eyes focused narrowly on the prize, not leaving the bottle the entire time, and with a single bang, the bullet rang out. Piper covered her ears as it whizzed by her, but she watched it connect with the bottle and shower the market in millions of glass shards. 

The echo of the gunshot rang throughout the sleepy city. Piper stared at the scene with her jaw agape. She turned around after a second at Blue, who had already holstered her gun and stood proudly, her hands on her hips, staring out into the marketplace. "Now that shot would've earned a kiss."

The scene froze for a moment as Piper's smile fell. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as she caught herself staring at Blue and her cocky grin. Piper felt herself fixed in place for a brief moment - the sun had begun to rise and they hadn't even known it. Bits of orange from this new dawn peaked out from the very edge of the horizon above Diamond City and while the night sky still shone in bits and pieces, but Blue stood tall and radiant on top of the roofs, her face aglow and proud as always and Piper felt absolutely terrified at how much she wanted to wipe her smirk off. 

Impulsively, she took a step toward Blue. She walked again, pressing them flush against each other. Piper felt her heart in her throat as she watched Blue's smirk fall from her face, something new entirely replacing it. 

Without words, Piper gave in. The alcohol still in her veins gave her courage enough to wrap her arms around Blue's waist and pull her in an inch. She heard Blue take a sharp intake of breath as Blue's hand met up to slowly tangle itself in Piper's hair. Blue's eyes met hers, half lidded and dark with intensity as Piper stood on her tiptoes to meet more of Blue's face.

Their noses brushed, sending a sharp spark of electricity down Piper's entire body. For a moment they stood there, Piper practically trembling with need and the smell of Blue's alcohol tinged breath in her face as Piper finally took the courage to close the distance, inching her face forward until their lips were almost a hair apart and, taking a breath, she started to lean into Blue...

...which made her ears pick up on the quick pattering of feet underneath them at the marketplace. Those familiar footfalls were familiar to Piper in an all too familiar way as she heard a voice call out from below. 

"Did you hear that gunshot? Round up the rest of security, we'll root out the area." 

Piper broke away immediately from the embrace. Blue, seemingly jolted out of the moment, began to collect the bottles and various goods from the roof. 

"I'm heading back home." Piper half whispered to Blue, who only nodded with a star struck look on her face. Blue opened her mouth to say something, but Piper didn't know if she wanted to hear it or if the looming threat of Diamond City security coming to round her up yet again drove her to more terror. Without another word, she leapt off the roof toward the direction of her own home. 

She'd leapt the roofs of Diamond City more often than she'd care to admit in the pursuit of a story, but given Piper's level of intoxication, it was a rough landing. Luckily, her home was only a few strides away so, hobbling her way back to Publick Occurences she already had her house keys pulled out and deftly undid the lock. She all but slammed the door behind her, blood still rushing in her ears.

The slam was loud, but luckily it hadn't woken Nat. Piper looked upon her quiet home, her mind flashing those past few moments over and over again until she crept up the stairs, not wanting to stir her sister, and fell asleep as soon as her head connected with the pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This work isn't dead! I'm just a busy bartender who's working LOTS of hours. On a related note, tip your bartenders well.
> 
> There was an error where Chapter 5 didn't show up. It was an error - there is no Chapter 5. It was just Chapter 4 that was accidentally put in twice. I'm still learning the ropes around AO3. Sorry, y'all.
> 
> (Also also I'm still sorry about the length and will continue to apologize to the end of my days. Someone please tell me to stop.)

Piper flicked the safety off her ten millimeter, looking out the window of the partially ruined diner at the mostly ruined walls, her ears perking at every sound of movement she heard in the distance.

They'd travelled this far for so much - from C.I.T. to the Old North Church where they'd found the hidden hideaway of the secret organization known as the Railroad. Considering they were the only people who had as big of a bone to pick with the Institute as Blue, they'd made an exchange - one courser chip for its internal bits decoded for them and at their disposal. With Virgil's help they'd been able to draft plans for some kind of teleporter to travel into the Institute and were ready to present them to Sturges back at Sanctuary, but not before Preston had stolen Blue to talk in private for a moment about some kind of plans for the Minutemen's next action.

Which had lead them here. Preston talked of some kind of castle, Blue explained. An old fortress out on the coast that had some Pre-War significance that would make a good base of operations. The plan seemed simple enough - clear out whatever was occupying the Castle, set up camp, profit.

Preston and the Minutemen were already position in a firing line - the next move was on Piper and Blue.

"It's apparently rife with weapons and supplies in there." Piper was so focused on the crumbling walls of the old fortress that she hadn't heard Blue stir behind her. "It'll be nice to sort through all that stuff - maybe we'll find enough scrap to build that teleporter."

Piper whipped her head around to face Blue, who was stuffing the last bits of some cloth in a few Molotov cocktails. Her eyes also followed the crumbled walls of the Castle in an intense focus; Piper knew this look. She was calculating the risks, looking for breaches in defense. "Still think we should've gone in guns blazing."

"You always think we should go in guns blazing, Blue. Unlike you, I'd rather not commit suicide via Mirelurk."

"I'm aware. I'm putting aside my selfish intent for what's best for the common man." Blue grabbed the cocktails and arranged them in the respective positions on her armor. She'd become more cautious in recent days - maybe the Commonwealth was catching up to her or maybe it was the very real possibility of finding Shaun soon, but Blue seemed to be of keen mind recently.

Piper, on the other hand, was a bit more worried than usual - if such a state of mind could exist. Blue and her had been popping up on the radar; the Minutemen were becoming a force to be reckoned with across the Commonwealth. Settlements were popping up like Tato plants nowadays, all at the behest of the pistol whipping or "aggressive persuasion" of their newfound general. All of this was for Shaun - locked away miles underground in the last place anyone would ever want to find themselves.

Blue was heading directly toward the source of the collective Commonwealth nightmare, the Institute. Blue had been cautious over these past days, collecting as much ammo as she could, keeping her arms in pristine condition. Piper knew she was ready to walk into a firefight if it came down to that in order to save Shaun, which was exactly what kept her up at night.

When this teleporter would be built, an unstoppable force would meet an immovable object, and the very real possibility of Blue not coming back was dawning on Piper.

Blue pulled out a cigarette from a pack, lighting it uncomfortably close to her grenades.

_Okay, so maybe not the keenest of minds._

"That's what the whole ideal of the Minutemen is, after all. Putting aside all the bullshit to make things better for others. And besides, if something was gonna kill me by now, it would've done so by now."

"It very nearly did." Piper's eyes drifted to the long, jagged scar that peeked out from Blue's undershirt. It had healed over in time, but every time Piper caught sight of it, she couldn't help but imagine what it must've been like. Blue at the business end of a Deathclaw's claws, knocking the wind out of her, leaving her life dangling by a thread in an irradiated wasteland miles away from help...

"If you're talking about the incident with the Deathclaw," Blue tucked her shirt up a bit, hiding some of the scar from view. "I managed out alright. And I learned my lesson - that being, stay the fuck away from Deathclaws unless you've got some Power Armor to keep you safe from being cut to ribbons."

Piper sighed, rubbing her temples. "That's one incident. I can't count the amount of times you've nearly died on me last week alone-"

"Pipes." Blue laughed a little. "Is this really the time for another lecture?"

"I'm being serious!" Piper quipped, trying her best to conceal the quaver that threatened to overpower the anger in her high pitched voice. Blue's laugh cut off immediately and Piper continued, feeling the sting of tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "If you died, I'd-"

Be stuck back at the paper. Wander Diamond City to the rest of her days. Her bed would be empty, probably forever. Her life would go back to just how it was before Blue came into it.

Piper felt a familiar flame kindle inside her. She'd come so close, intoxicatingly close to kissing Blue just those few days before on the Diamond City rooftops. She'd replayed the moment over since in her mind, each time more aching.

That morning after she'd mustered up the courage to come right up to Blue's doorstep and spill everything - she would've told Blue that she filled her every waking thought. She could've gone on and on about how much Blue made her smile or laugh and that she was the best friend she could've ever asked for but, God, maybe her hands would be enough to keep Blue warm on the colder nights. Maybe her lips weren't Nate's - not that Blue loved Nate, but it was her closest point of reference she could find - but if Blue would have them, they were hers, and Piper could cover her body in kisses to her hearts contempt until the weariness of being 200 years frozen melted off her face -

But instead, what she found that morning was Blue praying to the porcelain god, her pale body paler than usual and slick with sweat. When Blue finally mustered _"God, how much did I drink last night?"_ between hurls, Piper felt her heart sink into her feet.

They never brought it up since. It probably wasn't the case that Blue could have forgot everything, but _"Hey, remember when we almost made out when we were shitfaced on your roof?"_ wasn't exactly Piper's idea of a conversation starter.

Blue's jovial face melted immediately into something expressionless. Her arms wrapped around Piper immediately, her head resting on the top of Piper's. Piper relaxed into the touch, stifling a small sob into Blue's leather chest piece. She felt Blue's chest rumble as Blue hummed above her, her hand stroking the reporter's back.

"Hey." Blue's voice was warm and soft. "You don't have to worry about that-"

"I always do." Piper's voice was soft and slightly muffled against Blue's chest. "Especially now more than ever."

Piper took a deep breath to steady herself a bit more. "Blue, the Institute isn't something that can be run away from. After this, everything is gonna change. I know you have to do it and I'm not telling you not to, but." Her voice began to crack a little. "I told you earlier that I needed someone in my life for a long time and that I'd never expected that I'd get them. You'd better not ruin that by dying on me."

Blue didn't say anything for a few moments, still running her hands over Piper's back arrhythmically. Her head lowered for a moment, her lips pressing against Piper's forehead in a small kiss.

"Nothing's going to stop me from finding him, Piper." Her voice was very serious for a moment, but she grabbed Piper closer for a moment. "But if things start to turn south, I'll try to teleport back and I'll go back in with that Fat Man and those Mini Nukes I've been saving for a rainy day and bring the whole fucker down without a scratch. Would that make you happy?"

Piper nodded against Blue's chest, a small smile forming. "I'll be the first to hand it to you - and a Nuka Cola for the road."

Piper felt Blue's chest heave in a small laugh. "God, Piper, what would I do without you?"

"Likely have died multiple times, if I'm keeping a good tally."

"I mean it, though." Blue broke apart for a moment so that her green eyes could meet Piper's hazel. "You're - God, you-"

Her face looked perplexed for a moment. Piper saw Blue's wander across Piper's face, feeling a red splay across her own freckled cheeks.

"Goodness, Blue." Piper broke the silence, her voice slightly mocking. "You'll give a girl a big ego, looking at her like that."

Blue seemed taken aback by Piper's sudden boldness, her expression unreadable for a moment, before she gave a small, halfhearted laugh. "Yeah, like we'd really need that. Your ego's big enough as is."

"It's not an ego - it's an opinion. It just happens to be right."

Blue snorted, rolling her eyes. "Whatever." She looked over at the Minutemen, lined up and ready. "We probably shouldn't keep them waiting any longer."

Piper nodded at the vault dweller and, without another word, they started their way into the ruins. Blue gave Preston a nod as she passed - he looked truly, earnestly excited, the constant weariness on his face completely vanished for the moment.

They walked past the line and into the ruins of the deserted, derelict castle.

"Any idea as to how to drive these things out?" Piper quipped for a moment.

"Had an idea or two." With lightning fast reflexes, Blue's hands flew to her belt - a Molotov in one hand, her trusty pistol in another.

Blue chucked the cocktail overhead as hard as she could ahead of her. She shot her pistol a few times into the air above her - Piper yelped a little at the suddenness of it all, her hands going to her ears - the bullets clinking down to the ground after a few seconds.

With her free hand, Blue cupped around her mouth. "Come on out, you crabby sonsofbitches! Which one of you motherfuckers is hungry?!?"

Silence rang out through the courtyard for a few exciting moments. After the last bullet clinked on the ground, Piper heard the distinct clacking of claws come to life as the silhouettes of the Mirelurks popped up from the ground. They shuffled towards the sound, pincers clicking together in an almost deafening way as one after another filed their way directly towards Piper and Blue.

Piper's hand unconsciously shot into Blue's hand, her heart jumping a bit as she saw the masses of Mirelurks heading in their direction. "That's...a lot of Mirelurks. Think you got their attention, Blue."

Blue gave her hand a squeeze, turning toward Piper with a devilish smirk on her face. "Bet I can down more of these than you."

"Oh, you are _so_ on."

The first of the Mirelurks headed towards the two, getting within range. Hearing Blue unload bullets into one of them, Piper grabbed her Swatter, feeling the satisfying crack of wood connecting with chitin as the Mirelurk crumbled before her. "Lights out!"

The rest of the Mirelurks soon followed suit. With a nod to each other, Piper and Blue began to back towards the firing line of Minutemen aimed and at the ready. The Mirelurks, gathering in multitude as more and more began to spill out of the fortress, took the bait; clacking, they made their way directly into the line of sight of the squad.

"Fire at will!" Preston called out. A flurry of bullets and laser beams rung out from the squad. Their aim was true - the Mirelurks caught in the attack screeched as they fell, legs bending inward, claws and antennae flying in all directions. Their numbers were considerably dented, but the remaining Mirelurks crawled over the corpses of their fallen companions, and the real fight began.

Piper grabbed her pistol once again and began firing into the crowd of Mirelurks. With every screech she heard, her grip grew tighter and her eyes focused as she scanned her targets, aiming at areas unguarded by their hefty shells or at places dinged up and otherwise damaged by the rest of the Minutemen.

"Four!" she called out to Blue over the chaos of battle, smirking a little as she pressed the trigger once more and another screech sounded out from an unfortunate Mirelurk. "Five!"

She didn't look over at Blue behind her but heard her exasperated groan. "Duck, Piper!"

Piper did as she was told, watching as a Molotov cocktail streaked above her head, landing square in the middle of a cluster of badly damaged Mirelurks. The bottle exploded in a fiery blast and the Mirelurks gave out a final hiss as they curled into a charred crisp, their husks falling over with a thud.

"That puts me up to seven." Blue's voice was smeared with cockiness. Piper grumbled, her attention turning to the Mirelurks that began to swarm closer in the masses.

Piper distantly heard the Minutemen engage in a closer firefight, dimly hearing Preston shout encouragement to them. A rather large Mirelurk swarmed towards Piper, its massive claw swinging wildly - she ducked just in time, the razor like claw swinging her hat clean off her head and sending it flying God knows where.

Blue was parallel with Piper, her back to hers in their usual firefighting position. Blue occasionally shouted out taunts toward the Mirelurks - not that they understood, but the sound brought them closer to their position.

"Nine! Soon to be ten!" Blue laughed behind Piper. "You're gonna owe me a drink at the Dugout, Wright."

Piper's eyebrows furrowed together in frustration, firing into the crowd at random. "If you-" Bam. "-didn't stop-" Bam. "-to gloat about your kill count every seven seconds-" Bam. "-and focused on something for once in your life-"

Reloading her emptied gun, Piper whipped around to face Blue, her eyes bright and eager. "You might've noticed that I'm at twelve."

Blue smiled at Piper, their gazes locking for a moment amidst the thick of battle between them. Time froze for a moment - Blue's face was red as she caught her breath for a moment, positively beaming in the moment, sweat and dirt and Mirelurk blood glistening across her face.

_Christ, she's beautiful._

Piper was so busy taking in the sight of Blue that she didn't notice Blue's eyes leave Piper's and look behind her. She raised her arm out, breaking into a run toward the reporter. "Piper! Watch out!"

Piper looked her shoulder, too late to notice the massive Mirelurk claw crashing down onto it. It impacted against the back of her head and neck - Piper would have screamed from the pain if she had any air left in her lungs, the wind being knocked straight out of her. Her legs buckled as the pain, delayed for a moment from the suddenness of it all, coursed through her immediately lightning hot. She fell to her knees, too dazed and in pain to speak.

Her consciousness felt like it was swirling down a drain. She distantly heard the sound of gunfire, but her ears rang. The pain was slowly fading away along with the rest of her senses as her eyes fluttered, trying hard to focus on something, anything, in the fuzzy light.

"-can you hear me, Piper? _Piper!_ " Blue's hand was on her face somehow. Piper managed to look up at Blue for a moment - her eyes were wide in fear, pupils wide.

In the corner of her mind, Piper felt the sting of something in her thigh. Her eyes wandered down naturally as her head sunk into her shoulders - it was getting harder to hold it up. Through fuzzy vision, she saw Blue remove the stimpack from her thigh, tossing aside the emptied syringe.

"Stay with me, Piper!" Blue's voice was getting clearer as the stimpack quickly moved through Piper's system - she heard the shakiness of it, the fear, the unbridled rage. Piper's tongue felt too heavy to reply, which Blue took as her cue to grab Piper around the waist and, quite literally, hoist her over her shoulder and begin walking.

Very suddenly, Piper felt herself being laid on her back, something cushiony placed behind her now throbbing head. The sound of the fighting felt far off - Blue stood above her, crouched over her limp body.

"How - how did I get here?" Piper's voice was very small. Her stomach started to turn - she was lucky she skipped breakfast this morning or she might've emptied its contents by now. "Blue?"

"You likely have a bad concussion." Blue's voice was still shaky. "I've given you a stimpack. You should be feeling better in a few minutes."

"Blue." Piper gave a weak chuckle, the irony taste of blood in her mouth making her cough a little, tears stinging the corners of her eyes from the pain. "That was a bit of a doozy."

Blue's hand went up to her face, brushing aside the tears that were beginning to freely pour down her face. Her lip quivered, probably a hair away from breaking down into a full sob. She didn't say anything - her hand reached down for Piper's, grabbing it so tightly that Piper was afraid she'd break her fingers for a second.

Even as her consciousness was fading, a very loud thud broke the focus that Piper had solely fixated on Blue.

Blue didn't seem to notice or care. Her hands held tight onto Piper. "You're gonna be fine. It's gonna be okay." Piper wasn't sure if she was saying the words to her or to herself.

Piper ears picked up on that loud thud. She heard very loud clacking, similar to a Mirelurk's claws. Her eyes averted Blue for a moment, looking behind her.

The thud rang out again and, from behind the crumbled wall, a form began to emerge. A Mirelurk, bigger than one she'd ever seen, crawled into the ruin. Maybe two stories tall, the Mirelurk batted a large claw toward a Minuteman - he jumped out of the way in the nick of time, the claw embedding itself into the wall and sending stones flying. The monstrosity gave out a guttural sound, reverberating through the Castle and rattling Piper to the core...

Blue whipped her head around to the source as the Mirelurk Queen fully emerged. She raised her monstrous claws in the air, spout like appendages spraying some kind of liquid in the air that sizzled as it fell.

Piper and Blue locked eyes - Blue's pupils had shrank, horror had run across her face.

Without another word, Blue grabbed the shotgun toted at her back, loading the double barrel with shaking hands.

"Blue..."

Piper grabbed at Blue's hand, staring up at the shell shocked, still wet faced Sole Survivor. Something broke through her terrified visage and she melted at the sight of Piper, eyes welling up again in a moment of weakness that Piper'd never seen before as she looked down at her, tossing the shotgun to the side for a moment.

Blue leaned down and pressed her lips against Piper's.

She felt Blue's tears against her own face as Piper's hand reached up to Blue's face. She could taste the iron in her mouth and worried for a second that Blue would recoil, but she didn't - Blue's lips were gentle, trembling, as if she was afraid Piper would break under her.

They broke apart too soon. Piper felt her jaw hang a little, sucking in a ragged breath. Blue looked over her shoulder for a moment, back at the imminent threat that loomed in closer. Her eyes lingered over Piper's lips for a moment before she turned around, picking up the shotgun that lay beside them, charging headlong into the abyss.

Consciousness began to fail Piper. Her eyes closed at last as blackness took her.

 

The sound of waves crashing upon the shore was the first thing Piper heard when she woke up. Her eyes blinked open immediately, blinking at the too-bright light above her.

"You're awake." A familiar baritone voice was the second thing she heard and as her eyes adjusted, Piper saw Preston Garvey sitting at a chair near her bed. He looked tired, as if he hadn't been sleeping, his arm in a sling and held tight against his chest, but he also appeared relieved.

"You've been out a while. Got a really nasty hit on the head, you did. You're safe, get some rest."

Piper fought to sit up, wincing a little as she raised her head from the comfy pillow. "I'm...what?"

Preston immediately sat up from his chair, his good arm snaking around Piper's back to support her. "Whoa, take it easy. You've been out for almost two days - you're still recovering."

"Two days." Piper mumbled in confusion, her mind still muddled by sleep and whatever she must've been given to help her. She looked at her surroundings - stone walls, interior lighting, a soft bed, some battered furniture. This must be the interior of the Castle.

They did it. The Minutemen took back the Castle. She and them and Blue had done it-

Piper stilled for a moment. "Where's Blue?"

Preston's arm rose from her back to around Piper's shoulders, but his gaze averted hers.

Piper felt her throat tighten as she choked out. "Preston."

"She..." Piper felt her world begin to spin at the graveness of his voice. "The General was injured badly when she took down the Mirelurk Queen."

"Where is she, Preston?" Piper could hear herself going hysterical. "Preston! Where is-"

The arm around Piper wrapped in close, pulling her in to Preston. "She's really bad, Piper. She might pull through, but we're doing everything in our power."

Piper shook in Preston's grip, burying her face into his shoulder. She could feel his chest reverberate as he continued to speak, but Piper buried the sound with a loud, muffled wail against his coat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I never said I was a nice person.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I'm so sorry for not updating this for a long while. In return, have an extra long chapter. (Which I'm sorry for about the length. Again. Let me know when this becomes tiresome.)
> 
> This work isn't abandoned (far from, but like Piper, I also work best during the limited window of witching hours) but I might start some other things. Let me know if I should take on any prompts or other pairings! Thanks so much for all the feedback!!!

The deep rumblings of a radiation storm outside shook the Castle walls. Dust loosed itself from the foundation as the irradiated glow of the sky, something like a soft neon candlelight, covered the room in a sickly bright yellow. Piper lie on her back in her bed, watching the motes of dust dance in the light from the top of her old Boston Bugle. 

Not that the old Boston Bugles gave her any comfort - they were all relics of a bygone era that Piper would never know, full of reports about the looming threat of communism, speculation on the aggression coming from overseas and stepping onto Anchorage. Reviews for movies she'd never see. The like. 

Speculating what the world could have been like before the bombs fell by what the journalists before her left behind was a bit of a game to Piper. They were ghosts that Piper would never meet, but when she had a free moment, she'd purvey over a Bugle or two out of curiosity for the reporters of the past, their writing styles, even if she didn't understand half of what they were writing about. 

The Bugle was chock full of optimism and blind patriotism, almost to the point of being gimmicky. Wryly, Piper wondered if this was the kind of paper that Mayor McDonough and the rest of Diamond City wanted to read - something full of comforting words, blind to the troubles imminent. Still, she cherished an intact paper every time she found one, and a full paper like this was a rare commodity, one of her favorite Pre-War relics. 

_Well, second favorite Pre-War relic._ Piper looked over at the wall next to her - only an empty room stood between her and her favorite, still resting off the last of her injuries. 

Piper was indignant about staying at the Castle until Blue woke up, even though her own concussion cleared up with the help of some stimpacks and rest. Blue, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, but she was a fighter - after she was confirmed to make it, Preston practically barricaded the General from outside in unless it was absolutely necessary. Even Piper was barred from visiting Blue, although Preston always looked a little guilty telling her no, along with "Piper, just give it time."

And time she gave, freely. The Castle, fortified as it was, had a lot of work to be done. Piper went on some patrols around the Castle area, clearing out what danger she might find. She dined with the Minutemen, who were now giving her respectful nods when she passed. Preston and her, especially, spent the most time together out on guard duty, telling stories and playing card games deep into the night. 

At times, being at the Castle felt like being punched in the stomach. Piper worried herself sick over Blue, even if she was doing her damnedest to save face. Preston was also sick with worry - taking up the mantle of General's position until Blue recovered had taken its toll on him as well. 

He was a real sweetheart, Piper found, but he always seemed to treat her like she was going to break at any moment. 

Like she were some kind of grief stricken widow. 

Piper groaned aloud, tossing her newspaper off the side of the bed. Piper was a survivor of poisoning, a near execution, and a dozen other attempts on her life - she didn't need to be put on some kind of suicide watch from mother hen Preston. Between the stress of her best friend being mangled to bits and that, Piper felt like her patience - and most likely her emotional stability - was dangling by a very thin thread.

_Blue should be out with a few days time. She'll be right and ready, and then we'll hit the road and -_

And then what? They'd continue on as if nothing happened? They'd go back to their usual routine, pretending that both of them hadn't gotten near-intimate with death and almost been stolen from each other? That Blue, the most important person in her life besides Nat, had pulled her from the brink and saved her and left her with nothing more than a kiss before nearly dying herself...

Piper felt her cheeks grow hot. A kiss from Blue was something she wanted in secret for a very long time, but now that it happened, the memory of it haunted her. She grabbed her pillow to stifle another groan.

At that moment, Piper heard the handle of the bedroom door jiggle. As an instinct - a paranoid one, given, but one that had saved Piper's hide more times than she could count - her hand flew to her pistol, fingers drumming over the grip.

"Hey, who's that?" Piper clicked the safety off her gun. "You're walking into a huge mistake, buddy."

A familiar voice sounded out from the hallway, weak but with an amused tone. "Do you always answer doors like this?"

Into the room walked Blue. The yellow light of the radiation storm cast her in a sickly glow, illuminating her pale skin with a jaundice like appearance. From a brief scan by Piper, she could tell that Blue was sporting deep, healing bruises and scabs that briefly appeared at the edge of her plain white tee and underneath it. She walked a little awkwardly, like she was getting used to her two feet again, before plopping herself on the bed besides Piper. 

"Blue." Piper immediately scurried over to Blue's side on the bed, wrapping her arm around her in an embrace, gripping her tightly. 

"That's me." Blue said matter of factly. "I'm here."

Piper kept her arms around Blue, smiling despite herself at the relief of it all. She buried her face into Blue's shoulder, her voice muffled by it. "I thought you were on house arrest."

"I am. I'm getting a clean bill of health tomorrow or the next day. I went to ask Preston for a cup of water, since he's usually blocking my door. It was open, so I - well," Blue gave a sheepish grin. "I thought this was the pantry."

"Late night snack cravings?" A small half-smile painted the reporter's face. So typical. Without another word, she reached over the side of the bed to the end table where she was keeping most of her supplies. After a few moments of rifling through her goods, she emerged victorious. 

"Here." She said, placing a package of Fancy Lad Snack Cakes and a bottle neatly on Blue's lap. "And some water - neat. The good stuff, straight from the purifier."

They snacked in silence together, the radiation storm the only source of noise as it continued to rumble outside. After a while, Blue finally spoke up at last. "I will never understand how you've always got something delicious on you at all times." She gave Piper's jacket a quick up and down with her eyes. "Just how big are your pockets, anyway?"

"Come on, Blue. A girl's gotta have her secrets." Piper laughed genuinely for the first time in a few days. Blue seemed alright, Piper was alright, they were falling back into the same old routine. It felt like a massive weight that Piper didn't know she was carrying was suddenly unburdened. 

Blue only huffed, taking a gulp of water. "Some General I am. Don't even know where the pantry is in my own fortress."

"Hey, you've been out a while. I'm sure that you'll be given a tour when you're able."

"Yeah, I guess." Blue grimaced. "How...long has it been?"

Piper stilled beside her. "It's been...a while. A bit over a week." Her hand instinctually reached for Blue's arm, her thumb smoothing over it. She sighed, her eyes closed. "We were all really, really scared."

Blue leaned into Piper's touch, but she folded her hands together, pursuing her lips. "Yeah, well, guess you were right about me not being invincible." 

Piper's laugh was half bitter. "Are you really that surprised?"

"Not surprised, just disappointed." Blue's eyes shot up to Piper's head, her brows knitting together in concern. "Your head-"

"-is fine. Pretty much golden after some TLC and stimpacks." Piper dismissed Blue with a wave of her hand. "I'm all set."

Upon seeing the truthfulness in Piper's face, Blue visibly relaxed. "I'm glad. I'm really, really glad."

"And you're all set too, then?" Piper couldn't help but ask. "I mean, seems like it, since your appetite's back-"

"Yeah, I'm all set, too. The doctor called it 'the luckiest case of bruised ribs he'd ever seen'. Took a bit of funds for the stim, but I'm right as rain." Blue tousled her hand through her hair, laughing. "You know, for as much as the world's gone to shit, science and medicine have come remarkably far."

"Lucky for us." Piper's voice was thick with sarcasm. "Only at the price of radiation every five feet. Not to mention mutants, roaches, Deathclaws, raiders, kidnappings, cultists - need I go on?"

"Jesus, way to kill the mood." 

"I don't know if you've noticed," Piper pointed up at the "Press" tag on her cap. "But that's kind of my job. Bringing you the truth..." Her voice lowered theatrically, giving a dramatic, exaggerated wink. "...no matter how _bad_ it hurts."

A grin spread from Blue's ear to ear. "Thinking of some new slogan for the paper?"

Piper shrugged. "Can't claim it as my own. MacCready constantly quotes some DJ from where he used to live. From his impressions, he sounded like an Atom Cat who's done waaaaay too much Jet in his days." 

"Huh." Blue's face scrunched in thought. "A slogan's a good idea, though. Put it on your to-do list for the paper."

"Don't remind me about my to-do list for the paper." Piper rolled her eyes. "I've got a dozen ideas for new articles and no idea which order to put them in." Looking over at Blue, raised her eyebrow. "Whenever you're able, I also wanted to interview the new general of the Minutemen about their daring battle versus crabs."

"Why not now?" Blue's eyes brightened a little, sitting up a little staighter. "I'm always down for a one on one with my favorite reporter."

"I-" Piper felt her blood rush to her cheeks. A one on one with Blue was nothing short of Piper's fantasy. 

"-yeah, one on one, sounds good." Did it suddenly get hot in here? "Ready when you are."

"Ready."

"Uh, yeah, first question, then." After a moment of wracking her brain for a question (and to regain her composure), Piper then asked. "Okay, first question. What do you think the retaking of the Minutemen's historic stronghold will mean for the Commonwealth? And for the readers at home, could you describe the Minutemen's purpose?"

"Well," Blue's eyes were distant in thought, taking a moment to find the wording. "The Minutemen are basically people who are out for the common man. "Ready to help at a minute's notice". And for the retaking, I guess it means that we - the Minutemen, that is - are in this for the long haul. We're rebuilding, we're getting ready, and we're getting the guns and the people to become a force to be reckoned with."

"It's certainly good to have someone on the Commonwealth's side again." Piper quipped. "Now, then: are you confident in the abilities of your Minutemen?"

"Trying to trick me into saying something incriminating?" Blue teased, but she continued. "I have the utmost faith in the Minutemen. After seeing them clear out the Castle like they did, how couldn't I?"

Blue averted Piper's gaze for a moment. "I'm less confident in their General, off the record."

"Tsk." Piper clicked her tongue. "I've followed you through some pretty unbelievable stuff and if I wasn't confident in you, I'd have made a pretty damning spread in the paper already."

Without waiting for a response, Piper continued. "For the readers back at home, could you describe that moment? The taking of the Castle?"

"Well." Blue took a few moments to gather her thoughts. "It was...teeming with Mirelurks. Mirelurk nests. All guarded by a huge Mirelurk matriarch, taller than any building in Diamond City, for sure. I was accompanied by some of my best, not to mention Diamond City's very own intrepid reporter, the dashing, roguish, blanket hogging, talks a lot in her sleep while not snoring-"

"-that's _definitely_ not going in the paper-"

"-and quick witted Piper Wright. It wasn't easy, but none of us are any stranger to things not being easy." Blue gave a sharp, devilish grin that didn't help Piper's reddening cheeks. "But yeah, it wasn't easy. We drew them out of the area and picked them off one by one, but the place was teeming with them. All kinds of varieties - softshells, razorclaws, the regular ones, not to mention their hatchlings that just kept coming."

Blue started to look uncomfortable. "A lot of people got hurt. Pretty badly."

"Diamond City's dashing, roguish reporter will leave out the gory details." Piper remarked flatly, giving Blue a weak smile. "We're a family paper, after all." 

Blue didn't respond, her eyes still in her lap, refusing to make eye contact. "You were the first thing on my mind when I woke up. I was so worried I lost you."

Piper froze. "I'm...going to assume that's off the record." 

Blue continued, not acknowledging Piper. "I saw you just...crumple over. Like a ragdoll. I was so afraid, more afraid than I've ever been in my entire life."

"That's...quite the statement, coming from someone who saw the bombs fall." Piper's tone was a little weakened. 

Blue shrugged, her eyes suddenly distant. "I lost everything when the bombs fell. I'm still coming to terms with that."

She looked up at Piper. "Did you know you were the first real person I met after I made it out of the Vault?"

Piper stared back at Blue - Blue's gaze was solely fixated on her, intense and smoldering. She felt like squirming. "I'll have to politely inform Preston that he's not a real person."

"I - _damn it_ , you know what I mean, besides Preston and the others in Sanctuary." Blue seemed a little flustered, but her gaze remained firm. "At the gate of Diamond City. Do you remember?"

Blue didn't wait for Piper to respond. "I was heading toward Diamond City on the last bit of hope I had. The ruins of Boston were the worst part - they still are. I know you're used to it, the ruin and desolation, but I lived in Boston, for a while. Spent a lot of time there. And it was all gone, everyone I've ever known is dead, and I never got to say goodbye. I didn't know what was left, if there was anything left.

But there isn't. My old life was gone. Nate, he was gone, I never got to say goodbye. I had to watch him die. I was so hopeless, Piper-"

Piper's gloved hand reached out for Blue's. She felt the Vault Dweller tremble in her grasp; Blue's hands were always steady. She held a pistol with steadfast aim, never shook in the face of danger or during the many close encounters that Piper and Blue had stated down death and barely, just barely made it out with lessons learned and another story to tell. Blue had always been unwavering for as long as Piper knew her, strong and relentless, but when everything was said and done, Piper saw the fragile side of Blue hidden under armor and sarcasm. 

"And, as corny as it sounds, I met you." Blue murmured as the radiation storm rumbled on. "And, well...I...you've stuck with me. Through a lot. And you taught me how to survive out here, what the world was - is, now. And you've been a hell of a friend, the best friend I've ever had, only 200 years late, and - sorry, I'm rambling."

"You're fine, Blue." Piper's voice was soft, the one she usually reserved for Nat when she had a nightmare. She gave Blue's hand a soft squeeze. "You're alright."

"I'm really not." Blue's voice cracked off at the end. She took a second to compose herself, looking out the window at the yellow, glowing sky, her back turned to Piper. 

"I really thought you might die." Blue continued, still not facing the reporter. "During that battle. Everything was happening so fast. I wasn't sure if you were gonna make it, and it made me sick. After everything, after all we've been through. 

"I - I lost Nate. And everything. I couldn't lose you, too. I don't know how I would've gone on."

Piper felt her heart stop in her chest. Her jaw hung open slightly, knowing that she should say something, damn it, but nothing came to her. Not knowing what else to do, she reached out her hand, again, to place it on Blue's shoulder. 

This time, Blue shrugged her shoulder from Piper's hand.

"I couldn't imagine a world without you, Piper Wright. One where I lead to your death. I didn't want to even think about it. So when that Mirelurk Queen came out of the ether...it seemed like an easy way out of that world-"

If Blue was speaking, Piper didn't hear it. Blue's words echoed around in her head, puzzle pieces connecting together again and again until the realization dawned on her.

"So." Piper's words were toneless. "You tried to off yourself. Because you thought I was going to die." 

After a pause, Blue sighed. "More or less."

The air was thick with tension. Piper was a little grateful that they weren't looking at each other, that Blue had her back turned to Piper; she wasn't sure what kind of face she was making, but Piper felt her jaw begin to clench tight in a mix of emotions that was threatening to overpower her. 

"And if I'd lived?" Piper felt a laugh she couldn't control slip by her lips, one thick with bitterness and bile. "Or Preston? The Minutemen? Your friends? Should I be concerned that this is going to happen again?"

"You sound mad." Blue replied simply.

"You're damn right I'm fucking mad!" Piper nearly roared, time of night be damned, feeling the sting of tears in her eyes. The dam had been broken: every single bit of stress, sorrow, anger was flowing through her, out of her. "If you ever - ever - do you ever even think for a second?!"

"Apparently not." Blue weakly offered, turning around to face Piper at last, her own face rife with emotion - sorrow, regret. Something else lie in her eyes, barely illuminated by the glow of the storm, that distracted Piper from her quaking anger.

"Don't you ever - don't you ever-"

"If it's not evident already, I'm fully aware it was a stupid idea and it's not going to happen again."

"It was, and it better fucking not." Piper's voice was a low grumble, the furious anger only slightly quelled. "And if you ever do something like that again - ever -"

"You'll kick my ass. Looking forward to it." And there it was. As quickly as she let her guard down and let out a side of herself that had real, genuine emotion, it was suddenly gone. If there was anything Blue was always good at, it was skirting around anything that had to do with exposing herself and her inner feelings for too long. Even Piper, who was given the rare opportunity of seeing behind her guise, knew whenever that wall was going up. 

"Damn right I will. You're my best friend, too." Piper said, sniffling a little as she felt herself calm down. "I told you that. You're my best friend, and as sick and fucked up that offing yourself in my name would have been, I get the picture, whatever, but don't ever fucking do something like that again." 

"Understood and agreed." 

The storm, through their time together, was beginning to wane. A new dawn would be approaching soon - not an unfamiliar time to Piper, as she spent most of her days writing news articles until the sun rose. The hours felt private and somewhat sacred, like they were made for Piper and Piper alone. This was especially the case at the Castle; being somewhere significantly less populated than Diamond City was uncomfortable at first as Piper, at heart, was an urbanite, but time in the fortress made it feel familiar and relaxing.  
Something was different in this dawn, though. Piper, discerning as she was, knew how the Castle operated was from the second day - breakfast would be at 7, first patrol at 8. There was a very real possibility that Blue and Piper were the only ones up in the entire Castle.

These hours were really Piper's prime, truth be told. She felt a strange sense of comfort in late nights and early mornings, when the world was hers to observe and hers alone. Maybe it was the fact that the Commonwealth might - a very strong, hopeful might - be at peace for these little parts of the day. No raidings, no kidnappings, no worries while everyone was tucked in bed. 

This time was hers. And Blue's now, who sat beside her, starting to look a little bleary eyed but still beaming, bright as ever. Piper felt herself smile; she was sure that if she'd asked her right now, she'd pack her stuff right now and leave with Piper and once again they'd find the open road. That was the world that they shared together. 

And Piper couldn't imagine a world without Blue, either. 

Which is why she needed to know. 

"Do you remember all of the battle?" Piper felt a sudden fear rise in her chest - though she felt safe and secure inside the Castle, she'd rather face down the Mirelurk Queen herself than face the real questions. "Like, everything that happened?"

Blue's brows furrowed a little in thought. "Yeah, I do. Why?"

_Now or never, Pipes._

"Right after you dragged me to safety, you were running off to face the Queen Mirelurk. But before that, you kissed me. Do you remember that?"

Piper felt Blue stiffen completely beside her. Piper screwed her eyes shut, not wanting to look at whatever expression was on Blue's face. "Was that just a 'fuck it, I'm gonna die anyway' thing? Or..."

Piper opened her eyes again, looking up at Blue's shellshocked face. She felt regret rush over her immediately, a fist sized knot forming in her stomach. _Shit._

After a few uncomfortable, silent seconds, Piper spoke up again. "Don't leave me hangin', Blue."

"I-" Blue seemed at a genuine loss for words. Her eyes darted around, looking anywhere but at Piper. "I'm sorry about that."

"You don't have to be sorry. I just want to know why."

Would her heart ever stop racing? It was the only thing in Piper's ears as the silence grew between them, stretched far and thin despite how tantalizingly physically close they were. 

"I - Piper." Blue's voice was as soft as Piper ever heard it, sincere as it was before when she described the ruins of Boston. "You're my best friend, first and foremost, and the closest person I have to me." Blue fidgeted a little on the bed; in any other situation, Piper might have found it amusing to see Big Bad Blue get so worked up over a simple question. 

"But...well. I've - damn it, this is really not ideal."

"The benefits of being alive, Blue. It's the tough questions."

"Should've let that Mirelurk get me, then." Blue muttered under her breath before turning back to Piper. "I - you're. Well, if I'm gonna be out with it, then.

"We've...been us. And that's great, I love us. We're a great team and I couldn't imagine anything better than traversing the Commonwealth with you for the rest of my days, if you'd have me."

She looked up at Piper at last. Piper could see fear swimming in Blue's eyes. She'd never seen a look like that before - not in the face of Deathclaws, or Kellog. Nothing they faced could have prepared her for this.

"But. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel strictly...platonic about all this."

And, just like that, every atom of Piper froze in place. 

"I didn't think I'd ever have feelings for anyone again when Nate and I divorced." Blue continued. "And having a baby certainly didn't open up the dating pool. But, then again, I didn't know that the person I'd fall so hard for was going to be born about two hundred years later. 

"And - Christ, Piper. You're so wonderful, and astonishingly beautiful, and kind, and really, the brightest point of light in this godforsaken wasteland. I started to fall for you pretty much the moment I met you at the gate of Diamond City, and then you helped me figure out how to make it out here and everything and I just knew that nothing or nobody else could hold a candle to you.

"And then I thought you were going to die. And that I caused it. I couldn't handle that, as is pretty evident by now." Blue's voice, already weak and afraid, wavered more. "So I was ready to...end it. I wanted to go out killing that thing that killed so many and that might've killed you. But I had to kiss you goodbye, first. I felt like I did, at least. If at least once."

Blue pursued her lips, looking down at her lap again. The faintest, halfhearted smirk painted the corners of her mouth. "And, for the record, I was going to intend to be more romantic with confessing how I felt. It surely didn't involve us both nearly dying and me not showering for a bit over a week."

Piper smiled, her hand reaching for Blue's cheek.The top of her cheekbone was still wet with tears - Piper swiped the remnants away with her thumb. Relief was crashing over her in warm waves from head to toe, every previous anxiety melting away to the floor.

Blue still seemed about to explode. How could she not have seen earlier? Piper was going to kick herself for not telling Blue earlier: it would have saved them a lot of stress in the long run.

"Oh Blue," she laughed. "I wouldn't have it any other way." 

And with that, as gentle as Piper could muster, she kissed Blue. 

Blue seemed certainly surprised, her eyes widening in surprise before she relaxed into the kiss her own hand snaking into Piper's hair. Another hand wrapped around Piper's back and pulled her closer to Blue, their bodies flush. Every inch of space between them was being filled as they closed the gaps between them. 

The kiss was slow, lingering, and, when Blue deepened it with the gentlest brush of her tongue against Piper's bottom lip, downright intoxicating. Piper could feel Blue smiling throughout the entire time, and Piper couldn't help it either. 

After a few more moments, they mutually broke apart. Piper felt lightheaded, dizzy with happiness and took a small gasp of air. Blue looked equally breathless, more shocked than anything, really - her eyes were still wide, but her freckled cheeks had begun to redden. 

"Well." Blue stated, simply, still smiling.

"Well, then." Piper couldn't control her grin. 

The silence between them was comfortable. Blue leaned her forehead against Piper's, their noses touching, giving a content hum. "So, guess the feeling's mutual then."

Piper was still grinning. "You're an idiot."

"I am." Blue broke away from Piper a moment, looking a little guiltily down at the bed. "And I'm sorry, but I'm also really tired."

Piper looked out at the window - the storm had faded away. The navy blue of twilight painted itself across the sky, flecks of an orange sunrise a faint stripe in the far horizon above the ocean before them. 

"Yikes." Piper lay herself down on the bed. "We stayed up late."

"No kidding." Blue lay herself down beside Piper and pulled the covers over them. Her arm snaked around Piper, pulling her in closer. 

"Sure you should stay here?" Piper couldn't control the yawn that came out - sleep was catching up with her, after all. "You'll give Preston a panic attack when he doesn't find you in your room."

"Preston will have to deal with it." Blue's voice was already thick with sleepiness as soon as her head hit the pillow. "I'm not leaving."

"Good." Piper wriggled herself closer to Blue's warm body, her own arm wrapping over Blue's. "Don't."

Blue had already begun to breathe heavily, soon falling asleep. Piper followed suit soon after, resting easier than she had in a very long time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: When I meant slow burn, I didn't mean this long!! I swear!!
> 
> (Sorry for the long delay. My life kind of went to shit for a long while.  
> The short story: I'm single.  
> The long story: my fiancé and I split, I spent the wedding money on an impromptu backpacking trip starting in Thailand with my brother, ended up a lot of places, woke up with a few tattoos, cried a lot, drank even more, eventually found my way back to Brooklyn, tried to settle back into normal life, failed, still currently trying, doing better. Big thanks to everyone who's kudo'd this work and continued to leave comments on it while it was in an indefinite hiatus, seemingly never to be updated - you're the reason why it has been. I have ideas to continue it, but I swear on everything worth swearing upon, it won't take nearly a year this time.)
> 
> Anyway, this is the chapter as to why this has an E rating. Happy late Valentine's Day, y'all.

Echoing through the irradiated, long empty streets of Boston, Blue let out a long, exasperated groan. 

"For the love of all that is FUCKING holy."

Piper looked up at the rumbling sky above her. Green light crackled across the sky and under the clouds like a massive, impending spider web. Yet no rain fell in its place - instead, bursts of heat, like a pulse, came from the quakes of this maelstrom. A faint headache with each crash across the sky, each boom of thunder leaving one a little weaker in the knees and that distinct feeling of a slow forming sunburn...

"Radstorm." Piper confirmed as another boom shuddered above them. "Come on, Blue. Best we head inside. The sooner we head out of this radiation, the better."

Blue turned to Piper, her expression one of defeat and her face slowly turning red in frustration, but nodded slowly. Her gaze lifted from Piper for a moment, taking in the surrounding area for a moment before nodding in the direction of a building a hundred or so meters in the distance.

"That Red Rocket over there. Let's go."

They both dashed to the aforementioned building. Piper managed to get to the gas station first and grabbed at the rusty door to the Red Rocket – but to no avail.

"Locked. Son of a-" She cursed, pausing as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up only to find the Vault Dweller, finally caught up with her, with a slow forming confident grin on her face.

"Well," Blue said simply, reaching into her pocket for a few moments to retrieve a pick before bending down to the keyhole. "Nothing stays locked for long. Keep watch for me, will you, Pipes?"

Piper looked out to the streets, a familiar dread coming over her. Desperately, she tried to keep watch of the silent avenues of ruined Boston before her but once, twice, she felt her eyes drifting down to Blue, bent over, and God, that backside that could earn caps for days...

"Uh, yeah." Piper murmured, thankful Blue couldn't see her cheeks reddening. "Don't mind if I do."

It wasn't much longer before she heard a murmured "Gotcha." (in a sort of tone that turned Piper's blush absolutely _scarlet_ ). The door swung open, defeated at last, allowing them to walk inside.

" _’Nothing stays locked for long_.’ Psssh.” Piper's voice down a few octaves, her face scrunched. "What, pray tell me, lead to you learning how to pick locks, anyway? Weren't you some kind of lawman?"

"Law _yer_ ," Blue corrected. "And you'd be surprised how often I'd find myself locked in my own building because I was working late on a case."

Piper only rolled her eyes in response, plopping herself down on a couch behind the dusty counter. The rumbling outside shook the ceiling, dust slowly falling from it, but at least inside they were safe.

"We'll just wait it out in here, I guess." With a cheeky look, she added. "Got any cards?"

Blue's only response was a huff. Her eyes darted to the window of the Red Rocket, constantly watching for the clouds to pass.

Piper sighed. "Blue, come on. It's - nothing can change in an hour or so. It'll be fine."

Ever since the Castle, there was barely time to breathe before Blue was back out the door. She trailed off straight, not stopping until she'd reach her destination of Sanctuary. The teleport - computer? Blue hadn't explained it fully to Piper, everything was so rushed they barely had time to breathe before this Radstorm put this train on halt.

 _Something about near death experiences must awaken some kind of eagerness in a person_ , Piper thought bitterly to herself as she reached into her own pocket for a cigarette. Blue pretty much fell unconscious right after Piper got into bed with her, after Blue had waxed poetic for her about how beautiful Piper was and how she wanted to express her feelings – and Piper awoke to find all of Blue’s things missing, packed away and the sound of her companion talking with Preston on how she was finally, after this all this time, ready to take on the Institute and that nothing was going to get in her way.

Piper felt her heart stop a moment, closing her eyes to take a sharp inhale of breath. Blue was heading to the Institute tonight, if not very soon. Charging headfirst into the lion's den, the only place in the Commonwealth that no one wanted to end up. The place where no one returned to tell the tale.

Blue, of course, found a way to sneak herself into the Institute. She'd armed herself to the teeth, gritted herself for battle. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and while Piper never before had seen outright rage and murderous intent in Blue (part of the reason she liked her so much because, God, in this century, non-murderous has to be a high expectation nowadays) but with every mention of the Institute, poison dripped from Blue's lips. Even the way she said it was like spitting out blood after a fight, and Piper knew that she wouldn't back down from this fight. She was going to kill every person that stood in the way between her and Shaun -

_Or die trying._

There it was. The part she tried not to think of, but it still sat at the bottom of Piper's heart in a kind of pain that knocked her breathless. She'd either die or she'd win. There really wasn't any other option here, not against the nameless fear that had haunted the Commonwealth.

"I...I know." Blue looked over at Piper. She still bore the scars and bruises of the fight at the Castle - God, only a day ago, time was flying by Piper like sand between her fingers. Too much time before the inevitable. "It's just...the waiting."

"I just try to do some counting. Or draft out my next article in my head."

Piper was already reaching into her coat pockets - endless coat pockets that Piper constantly thanked God for, deep enough to hold her cigarettes, her pencils and notepad, books, magazines, guns, bullets, Stimpacks, endless stashes of snacks. She pulled out a lighter and, luckily, she'd also managed to bring along a classic - A Tale of Two Cities. Certainly enough to pass the time until the storm rolled over. "Had to learn to pass time in the 'Piper Suite' pretty quickly."

Blue's look of frustration finally melted off her face as she sighed, accepting her fate. "Yeah, I guess this is better than jail, at least."

One of her eyebrows raised as she looked over at what Piper had dug out of her pockets. “Really? Smoking in a gas station?”

“Sheesh, Blue.” Piper retorted, the cigarette between her teeth muffling her words, raising a gloved hand to light it. “I’m sure this place has been ransacked of anything explosive.”

“Smoking kills, you know.”

“Yeah, and so do bullets. And corrupt politicians. I’m sure one of those is going to get me before lung cancer.”

Blue sighed in defeat, sticking her hands in her pockets before she looked over at the garage of the station. Piper could already see the wheels turning in her head, that tongue that poked in the corner of her mouth when she was formulating a thought which was, Christ, so goddamned _cute_ , but before she could open her mouth, Piper filled it for her. "Please use safety gear this time."

"It was a minor wound, geez." Blue held up the back of her hand, showing off some fading scars of what was definitely a less-than-minor burn mark. "But alright."

 

-

 

It was a familiar occurrence, one that happened since the beginning of their friendship - just when Piper thought she had Blue figured out, Blue would go and do something that completely baffled her.

When Piper first met the Vault Dweller, she was half covered in blood, desperately sweating through her eponymous blue bodysuit, hands wrapped desperately tight around a tire iron like it was the only thing keeping her alive (which, as it turned out, very much did). She hardly knew a thing about the world that she had been thawed out and thrust into, but as promised, after the interview, Piper accompanied Blue in an attempt to set her straight on how to get by in the Commonwealth.

What Piper didn't know was that it was going to be the education session of a lifetime. Blue didn't know about the radiation, Ghouls, synths, raiders - it was a half an hour discussion on bottlecaps alone. Friggin' _bottlecaps_! What, did they rely on the barter system in the Pre-War days? 

What Piper didn't expect was just how quick a learner Blue was. From the day Blue picked up her trusty 10 millimeter she was a wrecking ball of trial and error related disasters, but, well, Blue was so fucking brilliant sometimes. Tactically, she could pull off the most hair brained assaults that would somehow always work.

(Not to mention handy. Piper once witnessed Blue make a fucking machine gun turret using a hot plate, a typewriter, a Giddyup Buttercup leg, and a bar of soap alone. Seriously.)

But most of all, what Piper was most surprised by was how quickly Blue and her fell into some kind of...cohabitation. Piper was so used to being alone, picking up scraps of stories to bring some sort of justice in the only way she knew how to.

(Not to mention rake in some caps. Keeping together a barely functioning printing press was draining her wallet, not to mention being the sole caretaker of Nat since their father passed.)

It was astonishingly hard to find someone who cared about any of the issues she had shed blood, sweat, and tears for. It was hard to find someone who had any sense of common decency nowadays.

And then...Blue. Blue, who captivated Piper in a way that she thought only her work could. She had a heart - a big, old bleeding heart that kept her up all night plowing away at a garden for an up-and-coming settlement that she'd help founded from the ground up. Maybe it was fate that the only person with a sense of law had found her way into Piper's rather chaotic life, because she was, slowly and surely, becoming her partner in crime. She was the deliverer of justice, hope, chances of redemption, and was always willing to accompany Piper on whatever hairbrained story she was chasing down.

Piper knew she'd follow Blue in return wherever that wanderer may roam, which was what was most baffling thing about all of this. She was so sure that the paper would be the best thing she ever did in her life. But now, being here with Blue, now she didn't know.

It was so much easier to have been guarded. It was lonely, but oh, Blue and her red hair that was getting more and more frizzled by the day, the way her green eyes narrowed when she was working on a project and the red that flushed all over her body when she had a single beer. The way her lips felt against hers and, oh, what it would feel like to have her hands tangled in that red mess of hers, what her voice might sound like an octave higher...

Neither of them had talked about what happened at the Castle yet. Piper wanted to scream into a pillow in frustration; the lack of knowing was, figuratively, killing her.

_In fairness, Blue was on an amount of Med-X that would make Hancock blush._

But on the cusp of Blue disappearing into the ether and into the Institute, the last thing Piper wanted to plague Blue's already rattled mind would be the so typical, so terribly cliché, "What _are_ we?" That was the question for later.

_If there is a later._

There was still so much unsaid. Too many thoughts, like caged animals, rattling in Piper's head that all wanted to come out on the basis of _if there is a later_.

 _If only I could've listen to my own advice and stayed guarded_ , she thought, before an idea struck her.

 _Dear Publick Occurrences_ , she thought out in her head as she channeled her inner muse - the girl wracked up late at night on the second floor of her home and office, trying to solve people's problems for them in her advice column. _I've been in love with my only friend for some time now, and just earlier this morning I finally pulled myself by the britches and confessed my feelings for her. Apparently she feels the same way and we shared a kiss that was so romantic and terribly cliché I can feel my teeth rotting out but, A) we haven't talked about it since, and B), there's a 99.9% likelihood that she might die in the next twelve hours. Publick, should I even bring it up, or is every chance of this going further going to fizzle out? Sincerely, Institutional._

Piper paused for a solid minute, channeling her inner reporter.

 _Dear Institutional_ , she monologued within, licking a finger to turn the next page of her well-worn Dickens novel. _The way I see it, there's two options here. She could be returning your feelings or she's just humoring you. Your friend is, very likely, extremely likely going to die in the next 12 hours? She could be pulling the high and mighty route and wanting to get any inkling of emotion out of her system before she meets her maker. I know one time I was out on a story that made me end up half bloodied with five bullets left and a mutant suicider on my tail, and first thing I wanted to do was A) get myself a room temperature moonshine at the Dugout (which I hate) and B) make the fuck out with Danny Sullivan because he opened the door for me once._

Piper grimaced at the memory.

_Institutional, she could like you, don't get me wrong, I'm just a reporter living inside your head. It could very well be that! It could also be an outpour of emotion she's trying to get out like a bad stomach bug. Or she could've been aware of your feelings for her and humored you because she almost died and is going to her death as we're internally talking to each other, Institutional. Besides, you told her she's your only friend - it could be her way of goodbye, all because you Stockholm Syndromed her into it -_

Piper slowly closed her book with a dull thud, a thought coming to her head. She called out to Blue, tinkering away at some project in the garage.

"So," Piper called out over the noise. "you know. Going over it in my head, that whole conversation we had where I pretty much said you were my only friend. Did that sound nuts?"

She could still hear the ding of hammer against metal, but Blue responded in kind. "What conversation?"

"Just when I was running my mouth before about moving to Diamond City and the paper and Nat. I just wanted to make sure it didn't sound as crazy coming out of my mouth as it does thinking it over again."

She could hear Blue's laugh through the walls as she continued working at whatever she was making. "I don't think it was any more than usual. Though that's a pretty high bar."

"Oh, _good_." Piper pressed her forehead to the cover of her book. "So long as it's consistent." 

"It's just...been a long time since I had someone like you in my life. Hell, might be I never did." It was all spilling out of her lips before she could close them. She wanted to bury herself into that book, but it was all coming to the forefront of her mind. The Institute. Shaun. Tomorrow.

She might never see her again.

"I just...wanted to say thanks. I really don't think I could ask for a better friend."

A pause between them. Piper didn't notice that Blue had stopped whatever she was doing until now. The silence not uncomfortable, but definitely poignant. 

Then finally, Blue's voice from much closer than she'd anticipated. Piper hadn't noticed that she'd walked back into the Rocket, her arms crossed. A bemused look on her face.

"It sounds to me like you're interested in becoming more than just friends."

Piper's eyebrows shot straight up into her hairline, her jaw unhinged. She opened her book up at once to shield the look of absolute shock, covering the lower half of her face that was reddening more and more by the second.

_Oh my God. Oh my God._

"Oh!" She stammered, lips half pressed against the words, wishing nothing more than to instantly become a chameleon Deathclaw at this very moment.

But fuck it, death was grinning on their doorstep. If there was any time to honor the old adage of “honesty is the best policy”, it would be now.

"I, I mean, I'd be lying if I said I never thought about you...that way." At Blue's grin widening, she added in horror, "Not that I'm always thinking that way...it's just..."

Jesus Christ, Piper could talk to Blue about anything and, for the love of God, they practically acted straight out of an Austen novel this morning. Why was this so hard?

"It's just...Blue." She sighed, completely hiding her face behind her book as she babbled. "I'm loud and pushy and constantly getting in over my head. Why would someone like you ever want someone like me?"

"Is it so hard to believe someone could fall for you?" Piper could practically picture the look on Blue's face - concerned, brows furrowed. Her voice warm, reassuring, exactly what she didn't need right now to form a comprehensive sentence.

"Well, n-no," Piper was absolutely stuttering at this point, shrinking even further into the couch. "But I don't feel like you've exactly seen me at my best thus far, Blue."

Piper let out an exasperated groan. "I mean, how many relationships established in a hail of gunfire actually work out?"

Her eyes peeked out from behind the book. She closed it once again and found the courage to look up meekly and meet Blue's eyes at last, her voice weak.

"Would you really want to end up with someone like me?" 

And there it was. The question, one that, despite every reassurance Blue had ever given her about their friendship, nagged her. One that kept her up at night when they lie beside each other, the lingering thought interjecting itself in between the pauses of their conversations, their travels, the stillness when there was nothing between them but the din of the radio.

Blue smiled as she walked across the room towards Piper's couch. The reporter felt her heart leap in her chest, boom in her ears louder than any Radstorm.

Her eyes screwed shut, anticipating the worst. She braced herself for whatever Blue was gonna say next - that she wasn't over Nate, that her focus was on Shaun, that they were nothing more than friends and - 

and then she felt Blue's hand on hers. Piper dropped the book instinctually - Blue took that cue to quickly snake her fingers between Piper's.

"You don't need to be flawless, Piper. You're perfect for me."

She waited a moment, her eyes still shut. Two moments. She braced herself internally, waiting for Blue to back out, for that "gotcha!" of a practical joke, something, anything that could be more believable than this -

and then she opened her eyes. Blue's expression was - she was smiling, laughing almost as she gripped Piper's clammy hand a little tighter, running her thumb over the back of it.

Piper looked down at her own hand, the one Blue was holding – freckled, scarred over, slightly pock marked from radiation exposure, calloused from long nights working on the printing press. Somehow, even though she hadn't been to Diamond City in days, perpetually ink stained.

And Blue still thought it was perfect. 

Her heart was soaring.

"Perfect, huh?" A wide smile formed across her face, one that almost made her cheeks hurt. Her eyes welling up a little - but oh my God, she was not going to cry right now and scare Blue away this early. "That's - uh, that's a new one. Well,"

She looked up at Blue with a content hum. "Well, I think you're perfect too."

Blue laughed softly and, leaning in a little closer, pressed a chaste kiss to Piper's lips.

Piper couldn't help but grin back into the kiss, their noses brushing a little awkwardly and the both of them laughing for it. Blue's arms instinctually wrapped around Piper's neck, still smiling into the kiss with a happy sigh. 

Piper gasped a little at the new angle, which Blue took as the perfect opportunity to deepen the kiss. Her tongue peeked out in the slightest touch and she bit gently on Piper's bottom lip, sucking on it lightly.

Piper felt her entire body flush with heat as Blue's hands fell, sliding down Piper's sides and resting on her hips. With newfound vigor her gloved hands found their way in Blue's mess of hair, tangled between the red locks as she returned Blue's kiss with equal vigor.

Blue made a noise at the slight tug which made Piper go entirely warm, the blush rising in her cheeks. She broke the kiss, her eyes glazed over want and ghosted her lips over Piper's jawline, pressing soft kisses down her neck.

Piper gave a small yelp at the sensation, squirming in her seat, her hand not on Blue clenching into a fist. Blue laughed, but her breath on Piper's neck making Piper squirm yet again and Piper could feel her smile against the skin.

"You're antsy." her voice was low, and she punctuated it with a kiss, the hand on Piper's hip grabbing slightly.

"I'm - you're-" Piper couldn't help the unconscious movement that gave Blue better access to her neck, which made Blue hum in contentment.

"I'm?" Blue's voice wasn't so much mocking but amused as she continued her assault on Piper's neck, trailing down to her collarbone, biting down softly.

The hand in Blue's hair gripped a little tighter as Piper gave out a small cry, her free hand latching onto Blue's back and pulling her closer until they were chest to chest, trying desperately to close the space between them.

Piper reached out for Blue, the hand in her hair moving to her cheek. Blue at last returned to Piper's lips. Piper could feel heat beginning to kindle inside her; this animal that lived inside her, the one that so desperately wanted Blue, was finally let out of its cage and it was absolutely ravenous. Piper kissed Blue like she was starving, like there was no Radstorm outside that shook the paper thin walls of this Red Rocket with every boom - her heart beat growing louder and louder in her chest, blood rushing to her ears, her cheeks, until she could feel the kiss getting more and more desperate - 

\- and then she broke away. She looked at Blue who, God, was absolutely flushed, her mouth open, lips only slightly swelled from the intensity of their sudden make out session. There was an equally hungry look in her eyes that sent a shiver of desire down Piper's spine and, oh, this was a sight she was sure she could never get sick of, but still the question pressed.

"Is this too fast?" Piper blurted, her voice a little shaky as she regained her breath. "I - I mean, I don't want to pressure you or anything, I just-"

Blue stopped her in her place by closing the space between them, her hand making deft work of removing Piper's hat and tossing it gently to the couch cushion next to them. Her hand wrapped itself in Piper's dark tresses and she used that leverage to pull Piper closer, kissing her even deeper.

Piper couldn't help the small moan that escaped her lips, which seemed to do Blue some good as she gave a soft little noise back, her hands moving southward toward the lapels of Piper's red coat.

 She gave a gentle tug at the edges of them - a question, one that Piper responded in kind by shrugging out it. That as well went in the discard pile, but as Blue made her way toward the scarf wrapped Piper's neck, Piper paused the situation for a moment. She made quick undoing of her scarf in a flash and put it down gently on the cushion, but as soon as the rest of her neck was exposed, Blue latched back onto it, pressing hungry kisses to hot skin.

"Mmm," Piper couldn't help but hum, her hands ghosting down Blue's sides, reveling in the way the small touch made Blue shiver. Her hands ran down until they met the top of Blue’s jumpsuit zipper – that ratty, bloodstained, unibodied Vault suit that pretty much became her identifying factor wherever she went - which Piper's hands gave a small tug at as one final question. It's - it's not that she didn't want this because, God, she wanted this more than she thought a human being would want something. It's that she wanted sex - honest to goodness, unfiltered sex - to be Blue's decision. 

"Please." Blue answered in kind, her voice hot, heady, begging and Piper never wanted to hear anything but that tone of voice again. She's already been making quick work of the skin that Piper has exposed, lingering there, kissing softly, slowly, settling herself in Piper's lap like she belonged there.

Piper made quick motion of tugging the zipper once – she was wearing nothing underneath it, which both surprised her and made her mouth go dry, jaw agape. She could see the beginnings of the scar that the Deathclaw had given her when she made that solo trip to the Glowing Sea – fading over now, but the skin still silvery. Piper ducked her head, pressing a small kiss to the area.

She felt Blue’s hum vibrating against her lips as Piper pulled the zipper down further. That scar travelled further, zig zagging down the sternum and disappearing by her hip (which was a little distracting, considering that this was the evidence of her near disembowelment) but the freckles that adorn her face disappeared past the collarbone, revealing pale – paler than Blue, which was saying something, since, although she was tanning from the heat, was still pretty fucking white – skin that hadn’t seen sunlight in probably quite some time. There were little marks there, too – bullet holes that’ve been stitched up. Stretch marks around her waist and up her stomach like tiger stripes, the only evidence left of her motherhood. 

She didn’t realize she was staring so long until she heard Blue speak. “What is it?" 

Piper looked up at her with a small laugh. “Nothing, nothing. Just…wow.”

“Hmm.” Before Blue could come up with some kind of reply, Piper’s hand wrapped around Blue’s waist, pulling her even closer. Another gloved hand pulled down Blue’s bra (because she was not going to waste time trying to get a bra off of someone in a bodysuit) and cupped her breast, her thumb brushing slightly over her nipple as her head found place in Blue’s neck, giving it wet, open mouthed kisses.

Blue cried out at the suddenness of all this, a little louder and high pitched again as Piper pinched her nipple slightly, rubbing over it again with the rough pad of her thumb. Her kisses trailed downward to the tops of Blue’s breasts, which were turning redder by the minute as her body began to flush a deep scarlet –

Blue pulled away very suddenly, looking Piper dead in the eye with ravenous intent. She grabbed the ends of Piper’s shirt and practically ripped it off of her, tossing it God knows where. Her hand deftly went behind Piper’s back and made swift motion of undoing her bra; she was probably very experienced with this, Piper realized. Not that it made her upset or anything, of course, but the fact that Blue was well-versed and Piper could only count her romantic partners on one hand (and sexual partners even less than that) was a little intimidating.

“You’re beautiful.” Blue murmured into her neck, her hand grabbing Piper’s ass. “Absolutely beautiful.”

“Romantic,” was all that Piper managed to stutter out.

Her hands were light on Piper’s skin, tracing up and down her body in light touches that made her shiver. Her hands trailed down further southward as she peppered kisses across Piper’s chest, pausing occasional to bite at her collarbone, to leave a mark upon her body as her hand connected with the button of Piper’s pants, pausing only for a moment to reach with her other hand to the waistline - 

\- which Piper used as an opportunity to wrap her one arm around Blue’s neck and pull her into a kiss. Blue hummed, pleasantly surprised and content with kissing her until Piper’s hands trailed across Blue’s stomach and pulled the zipper of the Vault Suit down fully at last, one hand slipping its way underneath the cottony material.

“You motherf-“ Blue began, almost a snarl against Piper’s mouth until Piper grinned against her and her hand found purchase – no underwear either, and Piper wondered for a moment that Blue should really better invest in some underclothes in case the suit ripped – with slickness and wet heat, and Blue’s reply was cut short into a soft, lewd moan.

Piper sucked in a sharp breath, her hand working oh so slowly to try and draw this out, teasing at her entrance, her clit. Blue’s eyes were screwed shut, biting her lip to contain the barely muffled sounds as her hips slowly gyrated on Piper’s hand for needed pressure.

Piper steeled herself, trying to maintain control as she inserted a single finger inside of Blue painfully slowly. Blue’s hips bucked, and those noises she was desperately trying to contain escaped from her lips.

“Please, Piper.” She whimpered, her breath tickling Piper’s ear. “ _Please_.”

Piper’s self-control was lost immediately, cursing loudly as she put a second finger inside, curling and uncurling them inside of her once, twice, drinking in Blue’s sounds of pleasure. 

She pulled Blue’s chest flush to hers, her own mouth muffling Blue’s hot, needy cries. In all honesty, Piper always fantasized about this differently – soft, tender, both taking sweet time to make the experience sensual, light, loving.

Blue practically ground herself into Piper’s hand, nothing but sounds and the occasional “fuck”, “Piper”, “oh God”, “yes”. Her nails dug into Piper’s back which caused her to flinch at the sharp sting initially, desperately seeking something to cling onto as they sprawled, clenching and unclenching as she held onto Piper needily. Piper couldn’t help but grin as Blue’s attempts to kiss her grew less and less concise as Blue’s face, eyes still screw shut, formed into some kind of wordless, soundless scream.

No, this was not as gentle as Piper first imagined it. But then again, they were not gentle people, and Blue was not a gentle lady – and Piper eagerly wanted her all the same.

“Blue.” Piper said softly into her ear as she buried her sweaty face into her shoulder. “Avery. _Avery_.”

She bit down hard on Piper’s shoulder, muffling the scream that came out. Her entire body shook, clinging tight onto Piper as she rode out her orgasm in violent waves, her thighs clenching around Piper’s legs, hips violently jerking as her screams turned to softer and softer whimpers. 

When it seemed to subside and when Blue’s death-grip on Piper began to loosen, Piper pressed a kiss to Blue’s temple, brushing sweaty red locks out of the way. “Jesus Christ, Avery.”

“Je-sus…yeah.” Blue’s face was still buried into Piper’s skin. “Give…give me a second.”

“Take your time.” Piper hummed, pressing another kiss to her temple, peppering a few soft, barely noticeable kisses across her scalp, forehead, cheeks.

After a minute or two, Blue looked up at Piper. Her eyes were wide, full blown, cheeks still flushed, absolutely beaming, her hand on Piper’s heart.

“Hello.”

“Hey there, doll.” Piper smiled, brushing away a few strands of red falling in her face.

Blue laughed, putting her hand on Piper’s cheek. She pulled her into another kiss, but this was much different than their previous kisses: gentle, soft. Neither could stop smiling.

The kiss grew deeper after a few moments passed. Blue, seemingly gaining back some of her cheekiness, bit on Piper’s lower lip, sucking it into hers for a moment. Her hands found their place back on Piper’s body, carefully tracing the soft curves and valleys.

Her hands eventually drifted back down to Piper’s pant button – her initial conquest. She undid it in quickly, and Piper, her own nerves building up, shimmied out of them quickly. Blue also tossed those clothes to some unknown corner of the station, but before Piper could protest she kissed Piper even deeper, hungrier, before her mouth moved to her neck.

She placed kisses down her neck, biting down where the neck met the shoulder, and Piper couldn’t help the noise that escaped her lips. Blue grinned against her skin, her mouth moving further downward as she lifted her body off of Piper’s. Piper opened her mouth to protest, but went completely cotton mouthed as she looked down at Blue – Blue, still flush, unfixed tussled sex hair, the woman Blue had pined from afar for months – settled herself between Piper’s thighs.

“Is this alright?” At Piper’s silence, Blue’s brows furrowed in a look of concern.

“I – I’m!” Piper squeaked, internally cursing herself. “I’m good, I’m good, I’m _so_ good.”

Blue’s concern immediately melted into a sultry look as she softly laughed against Piper’s inner thigh, pressing a soft kiss to it. “Is that right?”

“Yep!” Piper’s voice piped even higher pitched, hands flying to her own hair immediately, biting her lip hard. “I’m _fucking dandy_!" 

Blue didn’t reply. She laughed – the vibrations so close to her core driving Piper absolutely mad – lining the inside of Piper’s thighs with soft, tender kisses. She drifted between them for a moment, looking up to meet Piper’s eyes before licking a painfully slow stripe upward.

“Oh, fuck.” Was all that came out of Piper’s mouth, her hands in her hair gripping tightly. She could feel Blue laughing again, but instead she must’ve decided to show some mercy, her tongue setting itself to work.

The build-up was slow – deliberately, painfully slow as Blue moved in broad strokes across Piper, the tip of her tongue only briefly meeting against Piper’s clit for the shortest moment before darting back down. Piper couldn’t contain the soft moan, one of the hands in her hair moving down to Blue’s head, interweaving her fingers in her hair as Blue’s head bobbed down, taking the cue to move faster.

Blue was speeding things up – licking, sucking, her tongue darting inside of Piper for a moment before retreating and swirling hard around her clit, and while Blue was fucked in a way that she couldn’t form coherent sentences, Piper turned into a dictionary.

“Oh, fuck me.” Piper cried out, her voice raspy, her hips swaying with every move that Blue makes. “Oh fuck, oh God, God, Jesus fucking Christ, fucking God, don’t stop-“

She felt Blue grin against her as she shifted herself again, sticking two fingers inside of Piper as she licked at her clit, and Piper let out a choked sob.

“Fuck!” Piper babbled, feeling herself going hysterical, her hips jerking, the heat behind her cheeks and inside her body burning, burning, almost an electrical white hot as her legs began to shake. “Fuck, Blue, Avery, fuck, don’t stop don’t stop don’tstopdon’tstodon’t _don’t_ -“

Piper was never this quick and almost feels embarrassed by how quickly she became undone under Blue’s doing, but all of that, everything – every single thought in her head went spiraling down the chute as her spine went white hot and her back arched against the couch, her second hand clutched to Blue’s hair for dear life, bucking uncontrollably, crying out.

Blue held her thighs firmly as Piper’s throes began to lessen. She looked up at the exasperated Piper and – God, Piper could fucking kill her right now for that fucking smug look on her goddamned face if she hadn’t fucked her senseless.

“So.” Blue began simply, taking a piece of clothing on the ground – Piper’s pants, Piper realized with a grimace – and wiping her face. “That was alright?”

“Ugh, shut up.” Piper’s hands flew to cover her face as she sighed into them. “Come up here.”

She could feel the body heat of Blue as the Vault Dweller clambered over her, still as sweaty as she was before, a fistful of clothing in her hands – Piper’s black t-shirt.

“You want this?” Blue murmured, climbing her way into Piper’s arms, nestling against her chest.

“Nah. Not yet, at least." 

They lay in that position for a moment, neither of them moving, Blue resting her head just above Piper’s slowing heartbeat. Piper sighed in contentment, stroking her hair, pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead.

“For the record,” Blue stated, the first to break the silence. “I was planning a much more romantic gesture than having sex in a gas station.”

Piper snorted. “Yeah? What was that?”

Blue hummed, drumming her fingers against Piper’s chest. “Well, I’m not gonna spoil it now, or else I won’t be able to pull it out of my sleeve later.”

“Fine, fine. Keep your secrets, see if I care." 

They briefly paused another moment, Blue still tracing soft patterns across Piper. Together they lay, regaining their breath, their strength, basking in the afterglow and in each other, in pinpoint silence.

At that point, Blue murmured again. “The storm’s stopped."

Piper paused for a moment, taking in the silence. “Hmm, you’re right.”

Blue’s fingers stilled. “You know I have to leave.”

“I know.” Piper said, matter-of-factly, trying not to look down at the woman on her. It was – this was – it couldn’t have been the last time she’d ever see her again. Could it?

The silence grew between them. Each moment passed, Piper waiting - almost praying - to see if Blue would say anything, until she was confident she wouldn’t. 

The tracing against her skin had stopped, neither looking each other in the eye anymore. The seeming warmth was growing colder by the second, and Piper felt that ice spike of fear, melted away by her adoration of Blue for these sweet moments beginning to reform in the back of her skull.

“I’ll see you off in Sanctuary, then.” Piper said in the stillness. With a halfhearted chuckle, she added. “Pack you a lunch or something.”

Blue gave a soft laugh, but it seemed as empty as Piper’s. “Yeah, I don’t think there’s such thing as a peanut butter and jelly anymore.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“No.” Blue’s voice seemed distant. “You don’t.” 

The minutes grew colder between them, more distant, the only sound filling the room their breathing.

“We can stay here.” Blue stated, grabbing for more clothes – Piper’s signature red jacket, draping it over the two of them. “For a while. I locked the doors, and I was working on some mines in the garage. I’d like to see someone come near this building.”

Piper smiled as Blue cuddled closer to her, grabbing the bits of the jacket around them the best she could – certainly not made to be a blanket, but it would do.

“I’d like that.”

 

-

 

Piper awoke with a slow start, her eyes blinking open to the pitch darkness of the evening sky.

“Lovely night.” Her voice was still groggy with sleep, sitting up to stretch her arms, knocking over the red jacket in the process as it flew to the floor.

The absence of warmth shot Piper with a spike of panic. She fumbled, hands shaky, for her jacket quickly on the floor and donned it, wrapping it around her as quickly as she could. Piper pulled out a lighter – her only source of illumination, its dim light spreading to the outermost corners of the main room of this gas station, where her pants, scarf, shirt, hat, and belongings still remained, scattered across the floor. Dust fell gently from the ceiling, newspapers cluttered in certain areas of the room, but as she let out a breath, her sound echoed across the room.

Blue was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thanks again to the people who kudo'd and commented and liked and everything. Please, if you like this, go like three other fics you like or something. It keeps the authors going, it really does.
> 
> Also I'm not a nice person, you should know this by now.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thank you guys for the overwhelming support, both in this fic and to those who've reached out. For the sake of brevity and to not get too sappy, y'all are great.  
> Anyway, this chapter is pretty cathartic (and pretty cathartic to write), but there's some major spoilers. Dialogue is directly from the specific quest, so ye be warned.

That was just the thing about being a reporter - a truth seeker, a "lie spreader", "fear mongerer", a "punk ass kid” orphaned at 16 that ended up getting arrested every other week in the pursuit of a story who, eventually, grew up into an adult that ended up getting arrested every other week in pursuit of a story.

You had to have thick skin.

Piper had been beaten, bruised, shot at, stabbed, poisoned and, on one particular occasion, nearly executed by some particularly irradiated cultists. Sure, Piper was absolutely goddamned frightened in those moments, but she had a knack for escaping through a tight clutch like sand through fingers. Or sweet talking her way out of a situation, because on top of being thick skinned, a reporter had to be silver tongued and clever as hell.

Piper, the laughing fox always one step ahead of the hounds, always managed to get out with her life intact – maybe barely, as she bore her fair share of scars, but still alive regardless. She would return home victorious with what would be her next edition and celebrate by kicking her feet up with an ice cold Nuka Cola at the end of the day. Rinse, repeat.

This was something entirely different.

Her work was lonely – long nights in waiting, sneaking around, climbing rooftops and disappearing into alleyways. She was used to it until the vault dweller came around bearing those fearful eyes, her eyes that carried the iron weight of being a sole survivor and the last of her family.

She should’ve just cut it after the interview and given her a few tips on how not to get swindled by caravans, but no. She just had to offer her services – partially in pursuit of how deep the story of an avenging parent tearing up the Commonwealth would go, selfishly. It was originally all for the story, but a part of it was a curiosity of the sudden deer in the headlights that appeared at her door who was just so full of uncertainty, sorrow and hope. It was a familiar look; she bared it when she first walked through the gates of Diamond City. Her only possessions she had clinging tight to her, only wanting hope for her only remaining family member – it was almost like looking at a mirror on her past.

It certainly didn’t help that she was cute.

And down the rabbit hole they went, Piper initially full of uncertainty, but Blue slowly winning her over with her honesty, her compassion, her quick witted sense of humor and her smile, God, her smile. In a short manner of time she’d managed raising the Minutemen from the ashes, building homes for those who shared that same hopelessness that Piper felt at that tender sixteen years old, impersonated government officials, rescued the kidnapped, cleared out Raiders and Super Mutants and other nasties, brought overdue justice with a swift hand and compassion with a soft touch. Hell, even Travis, whom Piper had once thought would never get past his stutter, was speaking smoothly with a newfound confidence all because of Blue. It had the makings to be the story of the century.

And then it just cut short, mid-sentence, and Piper didn’t know where to pick up again.

Piper had just woke up and Blue was just...gone. Without a trace. No goodbye, no last words, nothing. She'd just up and vanished like some kind of ghost in the night.

That was nearly two weeks ago. Piper didn't know what hurt worse - the fact that her best friend (friend? There was really no easy explanation for what Piper and Blue were. They were best friends, and they had feelings for each other, and they fucked. That was pretty much it.) was, in all likelihood, dead, or the fact that she just up and left.

Like her mother left her father.

Like her father died and left her.

Like she left shortly after that to pack up her things and move to an unfamiliar city.

Like, when she published the first edition of Publick Occurences, she came under the eye of scrutiny by said city. Like her name because a murmured whisper behind her back and Piper lost the identity friend and confidant to become the troublesome, nosy snoop overnight.

Like Nat - the innocent little girl who had her childlike wonder chipped away from her more and more every day, punching boys and helping her punk ass kid older sister run the fucking goddamned newspaper.

She'd survive this, surely. She always did. Piper knew she had the endurance – years of loss and getting tossed around did that to a person. Shit happens, life kicks you in the ribs, but you get better and survive.

It hadn’t hurt like this before. Every step felt like being dragged down by some kind of weight around her ankles that made her feel like she was sinking into concrete, her bones crushing under the pressure of so many unsaid words and so much unbridled frustration that made her want to scream or cry out. It was never this bad – and that part of her wondered how deep this wound must go that it made the skies seem a little grayer, the candy not taste as sweet, and every bit of red hair she was picking out of her clothing made her want to weep a little. 

The loud metal creak of the closing of the gates to Diamond City left her in the dark for a while – home at last. She ashed her cigarette on the ground, stamping it out with her foot.

This fucking city. Best house of cards in the 'Wealth until the wind blew. "Better than being out in the open", everyone liked to think, turning a blind eye to greed and politics and the inner strife that Piper worked so hard at.

Fuck, if this work wasn't going to kill her eventually, at least all the old paper would make a nice fire to keep some of the people who had to sleep on soggy mattresses by the Mutfruit warm. That would be her good deed for the world.

“Yes, Danny, I’m allowed to be in here.” She called out, not exactly sure if it was wholly true but damn, that boy was easy prey to deceive.

When no response came to her, she called out again. “Danny? You sleeping on the job or something?”

She looked around carefully only to realize that, in fact, no one was guarding the gates to Diamond City, which made the hair on Piper’s neck stand up a little. She walked over to the main desk, peering over – empty. The elevator that lead to the Mayor’s office was slightly ajar, the light still flickering.

_What in the - ?_

Piper palmed the grip of her pistol – Christ, why did she have to pull out her gun more than her pen nowadays? It was probably Blue’s influence – and opened the elevator. Even through the ceiling she could hear the faintest din of yelling and, like the cat chasing the mouse (or rather the mouse walking into the serpents nest because, hell, Piper loved to tap dance on that thin line of being the Mayor’s annoyance and being outright kicked out of the city) she carefully entered the elevator and pressed the button inside, rising to the top.

As the elevator slowly crept up, she could begin to make out words – the exasperated voice of Mayor McDonough, pleading for something.

“You can’t do this to me! I am the mayor! I am Diamond City!”

And then a voice that sent a straight shiver down her spine.

“Your designation is currently compromised, M7-62.” The monotone, metallic, computerized voice of a Synth, probably Gen 1 or 2 from her judgement. “Please comply while relocation beam to SRB is readied-“

She’d reached the top of the stairs gritting her teeth, the rage inside her burning. 

That motherfucker. She’d known – she’d had inklings for ages that the mayor was a synth and people scolded at her and called her a liar, a traitor to the city, and everything that they laughed about was happening right in front of her behind a closed door.

Her fingers wrapped around her gun, loading it as silently as she could. The elevator was still closed, Piper's hand hovering over the open button before she heard a voice.

“M-Mayor?” Danny Sullivan, his voice thin with uncertainty, fear.

A faint, sickly blue light burst underneath the door with the sound of a loud zap. 

And then two gunshots.

A scream – Geneva’s.

Piper slammed her finger into the button, opening the elevator. She met the crazed look in Mayor McDonough’s eye, something like an animal caught in a cage, his gun still smoking and hot as he pushed it deep into Geneva’s temple, backing into his office with his arm around her in a chokehold.

She moved her finger to the trigger, trying to take aim at something that wouldn’t put Geneva in jeopardy – a leg, an arm if she was lucky and quick - 

And then her attention caught to the creaking of the elevator from the office to Diamond City as it began to descend. The speckled trail of blood that lead to it and, wavering in place, Danny Sullivan. Two bullets in his lower torso, the blood seeping through his reddening hands as he tried in desperation to keep pressure upon it. 

“DANNY!” Piper screamed, the gun dropping as she dashed over to the elevator as it began its descent. She locked eyes with Danny – his eyes afraid, painful, welling up from the pain until they began to roll into the back of his skull.

The elevator continued to lower until he was no longer visible.

And then she heard a sickening, loud thud.

“ _NO_!” Piper rushed over to the edge of the mayor’s office, peering over to the edge.

She screamed in her hands as she looked over at the body of Danny Sullivan on his side, broken and bleeding on the concrete as the elevator followed behind him; he must’ve fallen, Piper realized in fridge horror. His blood began to flow from the metal grates onto the streets of Diamond City, mixing with the dust.

Piper heard a small creak behind her. She whipped her head around, tears stinging in her eyes as she caught eyes with Mayor McDonough, a key flashing in his hand and a wolf’s grin spread across his face as he closed the office door behind him tight.

“Help! Somebody help!” Piper screamed out from the Mayor’s office in desperation to Diamond City below, her voice cracking, hoarse, but she felt a wave of relief as she saw a few heads turn in her direction. “Danny’s been shot!” 

That was all she could do. She had to put trust in the city – who, hopefully, wouldn’t turn a blind eye to its problems for once when one of its protectors was bleeding onto the goddamned street – as Piper looked at the door, that only barrier between her and McDonough.

She rushed up to it, the tears stinging from her face more from rage than fear now as she kicked at the door, hard. She kept kicking in desperation – in the distant corner of her mind she thought she heard an elevator begin to rise, but she paid it no attention.

“I knew it!” she screamed, kicking once again at the door – no budge. “I knew you were a synth, McDonough!”

“Yes, Piper, congratulations.” McDonough’s muffled voice was taunting through that thick, metal door – she could practically hear that greasy trademark politician sneer through the steel. “You’ve won. I hope you break your foot trying to kick that door down.”

Piper screamed, kicked, tears streaming down her face openly. She kicked at the door ignoring the protest of the pain in her feet, shoved and punched and ignored her knuckles splitting and leaving spots of red on the door.

She screamed, yowled, beat on that door with every ounce of strength in her body. Her entire body was trembling – out of fear. Fear for Danny Sullivan, fear for her city, and fear of how, despite the pacifist she tried to be, how badly she wanted to wring her hands around his neck and watch the light leave his eyes…

Piper had killed people. It was a sad part of Commonwealth life – you had to defend yourself, someone, from something or other. She never killed someone unless she had to, but a snarling beat inside her that wanted to kill him, and that was what she feared most. 

She heard footsteps behind her.

Piper whipped around again, her hand on her gun, raising it to whomever just arrived and –

Of fucking course. Oh  fucking-goddamned _course._

Blue, two fucking weeks later, arriving at simultaneously the nick of time and one of the worst fucking experiences of Piper's life.

She looked exactly the same as she left her – maybe a bit more haggard, dark bags under her eyes, a new scar red with slow healing on her chin.

Blue looked surprised to see her, her eyebrows raised. She locked eyes with Piper for a moment – shocked, her eyes full of emotion as her mouth began to open as if to say something.

_Bullshit, we are not going to have this conversation now._

“Damn it, it won’t budge.” Piper cut her off before she could say some kind of hello, Piper, I’m sorry, I can explain.

“Piper.” Blue’s voice was thick, oddly calm for the situation at hand. 

She shot Blue a hard look, hands clenching to fists at her sides. “Damn it, McDonough’s locked the door.” She gestured towards it before she sighed for a moment, groaning. “There’s no key. Gotta be a way in…" 

Her fists unclenched as she looked around the room for some kind of hint – anything. “Geneva used to have some way of opening the door.” Looking back to Blue, she called over her shoulder. “Maybe check her desk.” 

Piper rifled with books on the shelves, looked under the rug for any kind of pressure plate or switch –

Until she heard a small click behind her, Blue’s finger on some kind of button, and the door swung free.

Blue quickly cranked her musket as she ran in the door – Piper following suit.

“That’s close enough!”

McDonough didn’t raise his pistol at the intruders – it was pointed straight at Geneva. She cried out to them. “Help me! He’s crazy!”

“I’m not just going to be discarded and tossed to the wolves!” McDonough defended, a crazed look in his eyes. “I’m the mayor, god damn it!”

“Mayor McDonough, I can help you, but not when holding a hostage.” Blue’s voice was calm, but definitely layered with intent. “Let her go." 

McDonough looked down at the gun, at Geneva. “All…all right. She can go…”

Geneva ran past them, brushing past Piper’s shoulder as she did. She was happy that, at the least, Geneva’s life would be spared.

“Now,” His eyes darted to the pair of them, narrowing with malice. “I’ll tell you what’s going to happen next. I’m walking out of this city. Unharmed. With my dignity intact.”

“You’re not getting off the hook that easy, McDonough!” Piper demurred, her teeth gritted and she could taste iron in her mouth. “You have to answer for what you’ve done.” 

McDonough looked around the room in desperation, looked at them, loading the round in his pistol. “I’m either walking out of this city a free man, or I’m kill as many of you…disgusting, filthy savages as I can!”

Piper practically snarled as she began to retort but Blue’s voice cut her off, still calm but barely containing anger. “What are you gonna do then, McDonough?”

“I can’t just go back to the Institute, I can’t stay here. But I’m a man of…” His tone deepened. “Resourcefulness. I’ll make my way.”

He shot a look at Piper and, she swore, the mother fucker would be grinning if Blue didn’t have a musket pointed at him. “Just let me go. Hasn’t there been enough bloodshed? Think about poor Mister Sullivan." 

Piper grinded her teeth, resisting the urge to show any reaction. That murderous, lying bastard. He’d sat up here in his castle, perpetuating her paper for spreading the story – the truth! – of what he was while he was watching down on his city with the Institute’s eye…

“You’re gonna stand trial.” Blue’s voice was steadfast. “And these people are going to have justice.”

For the first time since Blue arrived, Piper really looked up at her, catching the hard exterior of her face, the half-scowl masking the fury that Piper knew all so well. She beamed a little despite the moment at the lawyer – keeper of the law long before her time, the kind of people who upheld civility and she was not only trying to do this through this lawless Commonwealth, but in the face of one of the most powerful men in the Commonwealth.

Despite the fact that Blue was a lying bastard, Piper couldn’t describe the emotion as anything other than pride.

“Lord knows you’ve got plenty to answer for.” Piper seethed at the mayor.

“Trial?” McDonough sneered, aiming his gun directly at Blue this time. “You know how these people feel about Synths. I won’t be stuck in a prison while they gloat."

McDonough shot first, a bullet sinking deep into Blue’s left shoulder, the red stating to pool underneath the blue suit.

“This is my city! Mine!” 

Piper shot at the mayor, a bullet barely whizzing past his chest, one clipping his side. He clutched at the side, crying out in pain – which gave Blue the perfect opportunity to fire off her musket. McDonough looked down at the wound, his mouth opening into a wordless scream before his entire body illuminated and turned to ash before them.

Piper and Blue stood in a shocked stillness, the musket still humming with energy in Blue’s hands, the ashes of the mayor picking up in the breeze and spreading out over the city.

“He’s dead.” Piper broke the silence. “I can’t say McDonough didn’t deserve worse, but…”

She sighed, part with relief, half with a deep sense of worry. “Without a mayor, the city council will be next to pick up the pieces. Let’s hope they do a better job.”

Piper knelt down at the ashes of the mayor, grabbing a small pile of the ash that remained in her gloved hand and, sure enough, she felt burnt bits of metal between her grip.

“I don’t know when people are gonna be ready for another mayor election.” She murmured, more talking to herself than Blue. “Not going to be soon, that’s for sure.”

“But at least,” Piper looked up, out on the city – her city, flawed as it was, but hers. Relieved that it was free of McDonough and his influence, but it would be a long time that the paralyzing fear of synths would leave the people. “Diamond City will finally have the truth.”

She remained there at the ashes, kneeling for what felt like an eternity, rummaging through the ashes. Every threat, every worry that loomed over her head that one day, McDonough would send his goons to destroy the press and throw her and Nat out on the streets, was slowly starting to melt away. She worried for Diamond City and the panic that would set in after this, how the citizens who, going about their business, would still keep a careful eye on their neighbors for any suspicious activity. She wondered if they’d ever be able to trust again.

Piper heard the hiss of air of a syringe behind her, distracting her from her thoughts. She looked back at Blue, forgetting she was there for a moment. The vault dweller stuck a stimpack into her shoulder where the blood began to seep through the insulated mesh, grimacing a little as she did. 

Blue began to walk toward Piper’s kneeling figure. The reporter turned her head away from her, looking down at the ashes, the tears that she thought were dried up in her eyes threatening to return.

“Piper.” Blue said again, putting her hand on Piper’s shoulder.

Piper shrugged it off immediately, her face still to the ground. “I’ve got a lot to clean up here, Blue.” Her voice wavered a moment, the intensity of all that happened starting to catch up to her. “Hit me up again later.”

She didn’t look up to see Blue’s face, but the vault dweller must’ve understood. She heard her footsteps as she left the office and the pressing of a button, the scraping of metal as the elevator lowered onto the city.

Piper, at last alone gave a heaving sob. For Nat, who would finally have a permanent home in this city. The frustration that she was right and, God, did he deserve it, but the city would be permanently shrouded in this blanket like the Broken Mask had covered them all in a shade of darkness.

And because of Blue, who had come in right when everybody needed her, of course, except for Piper. She thought she could get past everything since she'd gotten past everything so far and yet, knee deep in ash of the man that was her primary antagonist for years, the fear looming over her shoulder, nothing had hurt worse than this.

 

-

 

The Dugout bar, for once, was practically silent. 

Everyone had heard the news by now; Diamond City was a relatively small city for being the largest settlement in the Commonwealth, and word flowed through the city like water.

The faint tin of the radio echoed throughout the bar, Piper’s elbows on the bar. The patrons occasionally passed her; she recognized most of these people as naysayers of the Publick, those who turned down her interviews and told her off when she remotely looked in their general direction with a pen in hand.

They shot her sympathetic looks, half pained smiles in her directions, one going so far to murmur an apology in her general direction as they beelined to Vadim for their next poison. She paid them no mind, staring down at the polished wood of the bar.

“You look troubled.” Piper snapped out of her stupor at the sound of glass sliding toward her – Vadim was sliding an open Nuka Cola in her direction. “Generous man came in and has bought you a soda. Come on, Piper, turn frown upside down, eh?”

Piper waved her hand, pushing the bottle back. “No offense, Vadim, but I don’t do open drinks. I’ve been poisoned in your bar a few times before – and no, I’m not just talking about the moonshine.”

“Suit yourself.” Vadim shrugged, taking the cola back. “I will buy you new one, yes? As long as you stop moping on my bar.”

“Whatever.” Piper sighed, taking the new bottle in hand, popping the cap off herself.

The air of the bar was tense. A few people sat down at the chairs and couches, their voices murmured, a few patrons occasionally looking in Piper’s general direction. She could hear their voices occasionally raise before another shushed them - especially after they looked in Piper's direction. They looked down whenever they'd accidentally catch the reporter's eyes, huddling closer to keep their oh-so-precious gossip to themselves.

The bar door swung open again behind her and Vadim clapped his hands together, a deep rumble of laughter that could practically shake the rafters. 

“And if it isn’t woman of the hour!” Vadim roared. “The Mayor Slayer! Good name, eh? Came up with it myself.”

“Thanks, Vadim.” Piper could hear Blue’s voice behind her, coming closer as the freckled hand grasped the end of a barstool next to her, putting herself down upon it. Changed out of her vault suit for once – a rare occasion, but the fact that it was still probably covered in blood from before must’ve changed her mind. “A cold one, please. Or closest to.”

Vadim whipped around, trying to grab a glass from the top shelf and some kind of bottle from the bottom, grumbling a curse as he did.

Blue turned to Piper now, scratching the back of her head as she offered a weak “Hey.”

“Go fuck yourself.” It was a lot harsher than Piper intended it to come out, thick with venom and no attempt to be impassible, but she meant it nonetheless.

“I deserve that.” Blue returned, a half grimace on her face.

“No fucking kidding.”

“Can we at least talk about this?”

“Go fuck yourself, please.” Piper grabbed for her pocket (half in an attempt to hide her shaking fingers in her coat), retrieving a cigarette and a lighter.

“I’m…” Blue sighed, her own elbows coming to the bar, her head in her one hand. “God, I’m sorry.”

“How fucking nice of you.” Piper said through gritted teeth and a cigarette in her mouth, lighting it. “Forgive me for not bending over backwards for such a sincere yet laconic apology.”

“Can I at least explain-“

“Explain _what_?!” Piper cried, half laughing in incredulousness, her hands gesticulating wildly in the air. “Why you did what you did? Do you suddenly feel bad for saying all those fucking honeyed words to get in my pants and fucking leaving in the night?” She drummed her fingers against the bar, giving Blue a very pointed look. “Christ, you’ve got some fucking nerve to turn up here, Avery Bishop, after all the –" 

“Please excuse me, ladies.” Piper hadn’t even noticed that Vadim had returned and probably heard most of this conversation, pushing the beer toward Blue. “I very suddenly have business with Yefim.”

Vadim headed toward the back office of the Dugout. Piper looked around the room – sure enough, the patrons of the bar had caught attention to their argument as well.

“Excuse me! If you wanted a show, you should’ve gone to Goodneighbor!” She hollered, feeling herself become less rational by the second. “Mind your damned business!”

The eyes of the crowd collectively turned away from her towards each other, chatter picking up between each other after a few uncomfortable moments. Blue and Piper remained quiet as well. Blue shifted uncomfortably for a few moments with her beer, not drinking it but occasionally tapping at the glass. 

Piper sighed, taking a long puff of her cigarette.

“Can’t remember the quote.” Piper exhaled a long cloud of smoke. “It was some Pre War something or other. But it was something about how, of all the gin joints in the world, you end up walking into mine.”

Blue looked around the bar, Piper’s eyes following her gaze – the moonshine, the beer, the general atmosphere that generally made the Geiger counter on Blue’s wrist tick at a relatively slow beat, until Blue offered “This is hardly a gin joint.”

“Yeah,” Piper mumbled. “I guess.”

Piper’s felt herself begin to relax slightly, the cigarette between her teeth loosening as she looked over at Blue, who seemed to squirm under her fixed look.

After a few moments, she finally spoke up. “You survived the trip, then. Or did that hunk of junk Sturges made blow up in your face?”

“No.” Blue looked down at the bar. “I was there.”

Piper's eyebrow raised. She took the moment to look at Blue – really look at her. The deep, dark bags under her eyes that told telltale signs of sleeplessness, her hair messy, probably not washed in days, in a loose bun on the top of her head. And her eyes – those same uncertain eyes that Piper saw when the vault dweller first walked into Diamond City, the usual cheeriness and twinkle drowned out by some hatched up, heavy emotion.

“Look.” Blue hadn’t touched her beer at all but she looked down at it, fidgeted with the label of it, tearing off bits and corners. “I know that nothing I say is going to make what happened any better, and I’m not expecting it to, nor any kind of forgiveness or whatever. I just want to offer some rationale for what I did and I’ll leave.”

Piper paused a long moment, exhaling through her nose, closing her eyes. “Go ahead.”

“I made it. Down to the Institute.” Blue said weakly. “And…” Her voice began to thicken. “I found Shaun.”

Piper pursued her lips, looking over at Blue.

“He’s not with you.” It was stating the obvious, and she felt terrible for it, but the answer begged.

“Yeah.” Blue continued to tear at the label on the bottle. “He isn’t.”

Piper could see Blue’s bottom lip begin to quaver a little as she continued. “Shaun – the boy we saw in the memory in Goodneighbor. He was a synth. The real Shaun wasn’t taken ten years ago." 

Blue blinked, taking a deep breath. “It was more of sixty – seventy, maybe. He’s a grown man, Piper. And,” Blue paused. “The leader of the Institute.”

Piper’s jaw dropped and, instinctually, she moved her hand to put it in Blue’s shoulder, but paused halfway through as Blue continued.

“He only unfroze me because of some kind of…experiment.” Blue croaked. Her voice shook with sorrow, but no tears came out. “He wanted to test my reaction. He let everyone else in that Vault – my neighbors, innocent people, Piper, he cut them off their life support. Said they were collateral, other variables that - like their lives didn’t matter -“

“Blue.” As quick as that, Piper’s anger started to thaw. She moved her hand back to Blue’s shoulder. Blue flinched under the touch but started shaking slightly under it.

She came so far, only to find that what she was looking for this entire time was already lost.

A broken woman sat before her: maybe irreparable, most likely shaken entirely and would be for a time that Piper couldn’t even fathom. The usual false cheerfulness under that alexithymic mask was completely broken, and the rain was seeping through her concrete being and soul and breaking the foundation altogether.

“And it’s not him,” Blue wept, her voice choking at every pause. “It’s not Shaun, I don’t know who he is, I don’t know. He’s so cold, so uncaring and he’s got Nate’s eyes, Piper, he has his eyes and-“

Piper rubbed her hand on her back as the tears began to stream down her face openly, Blue giving a horrible, wet sob.

“Come on, Blue.” Piper beckoned, gently guiding Blue with her arm. “Let’s get you home. We can talk there." 

She guided the sobbing vault dweller out of the bar, staring daggers at every person whose attention was caught by the scene until they stared back at their own laps.

Piper guided her out onto the streets, the shining, bright lights of Diamond City toward Home Plate. Blue moved to her pocket, her hands shaking as she fumbled for her key, dropping it to the ground.

“I’ve got you.” Piper said, picking up the key and opening the door, and half wondered for a moment how much she did.

They walked into Blue’s house. Piper usually smiled at the interior whenever she entered; the house, itself, was an odd assortment of Pre War antiques, comic collections, glowing bottles of Nuka Cola on the shelf, a basketball hoop near an always stocked cigarette machine, a full bar made of barrels and old boxes, cat paintings, taxidermied beasts, colored flags, oil lanterns, neon lights, a pool table that always had empty bottles of beer under it due to what Piper had once dubbed affectionately “clinginess to the old stuff”. Today was not a day for looking around, however – she lead Blue up the stairs to her bed, stamping out her cigarette in the ash tray beside the bed (that was solely for Piper’s benefit, Piper remembered) and lit a candle by the bed.

“Alright, Blue, it’s alright.” Blue’s sobbing had subsided into small sniffles and little tremors on the walk back, but Piper rubbed her hand along Blue’s back anyway.

It took a few moments for Blue to finally still as the small hiccups and sobs began to subside, Blue leaning into Piper’s touch. She clenched and unclenched her fists in her lap, never looking up.

“Why does it feel like you’re always the person who has to pick up the pieces?” Blue mused half sarcastically, sniffling slightly as she began to calm.

Piper hummed beside her. “I’ve always been good at finding things, I guess.”

“I didn’t know what to do afterward.” Blue cut her off, her voice suddenly sobering for a moment as she continued the story she told at the bar. “I – I’d been looking for him this entire and it wasn’t even him. He was raised by the Institute this entire time and God, Piper, he’s still my son, but it was almost like talking to a…some kind of robot. He didn’t have any emotion behind him. He baited me in with that…that synth child…in an attempt to lure me into the Institute. He wanted me to join them." 

Piper stilled entirely.

“I didn’t, obviously.” Blue’s small, under her breath laugh was emotionless. “Because I couldn’t bear to be with the same people who did this to whoever Shaun is. And the people who killed Nate – they were the ones who sent Kellogg after them, it was their bullet that killed him, Piper.

“And,” The tears began to well up in Blue’s eyes again. “Shaun said I could never return. So I left. And I lost my son again…”

“Blue, you-“ Piper didn’t know what to say. That she made the right choice? It was her son that she gave up – the thing that she’d been looking for all these months. The only thing that had been keeping her going since she’d unthawed into the graveyard of the world that she once knew, the only tie left to her family and any sense of normalcy she had left in her life before Vault 111 - and it was the nightmare that kidnapped people in the night, who wiped out University Point. Piper couldn’t even begin to fathom. 

“I…” Blue closed her eyes tight. “I lost everything. Nate, my parents, my siblings, my coworkers, my friends, my family…my son. Everything was just…torn away. I was so helpless, I couldn’t save anyone. I wandered around for two weeks. I didn’t know what to do.”

Blue was silent for a while, and Piper could hear the faint sounds of her crying begin to pick up.

“Piper,” Blue didn’t look up at her. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t’ve left that night. But…back in the vault, I was there, I was stuck in that pod when…when Kellogg killed Nate. When they took Shaun. I watched the most important people to me die, get taken and I was helpless to do anything about it. I didn’t…I wouldn’t want to have you do anything similar. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

Blue choked up, a small, broken sound. “And I couldn’t do it again. If I died that day, I couldn’t let the last thing I saw be you. It’d be too much...”

Piper’s hand moved to Blue’s face, her glove immediately wet with tears. Blue looked up – her green eyes bloodshot, tears starting to form up in them again, wide and afraid and so full of emotion.

“Oh, Blue…” Piper murmured, her thumb brushing away some of the tears beginning to form.

Before Blue could say anything, she closed the distance with a kiss.

Blue seemed too shocked to kiss her back, but Piper kissed the former vault dweller with a small fervor, encouraging, tender. Blue’s lips were salty with tears, but Piper kissed that away in no time, her hands moving to the sides of Blue’s face tenderly, holding it gently 

When she pulled away – and God, the mix of heartbreak and confusion on Blue’s face made Piper’s own heart break in two – she pressed her forehead to Blue’s.

“Listen to me.” Piper began, closing her eyes. “I swear that I’ll be around. I promise, Blue, I’m –“

She could feel Blue’s face begin to relax under her hands, opening her eyes unto Blue’s face – the tears still wet on her cheeks, her eyes still red but a small, weak smile beginning to form, and Piper felt herself fall apart all over again for the woman in front of her.

Piper felt her words slowly becoming lost and instead of trying to find them, Piper kissed her again. Blue kissed back this time – still timid, unsure and Piper took that moment to take initiative, kissing her deeply, languid but passionately.

Blue seemed to relax at last and made a soft sound in Piper’s mouth which, despite all the tenderness, filled Piper with a familiar warmth. Blue slid her hand on Piper’s hip, pulling her body flush to hers, the warmth between the two intoxicating to Piper. Piper moved one of her hands into Blue’s hair – not with the same, rough intensity in which they were first together and had practically ravaged each other at the Red Rocket, but more of a soft, reassuring hold. Piper held her like something precious, like she was a prayer and Blue’s lips on hers were a gentle, soft amen.

Blue pulled away and Piper went a little weak in the knees at the look of overwhelming affection on Blue’s face and her cheeks, reddening more by the second.

“I’m sorry-“ Blue began before Piper cut her off completely, slamming her mouth into hers. 

“Blue, I love you, but shut up.” Piper snarked as kissed Blue again, biting Blue’s bottom lip playfully as the hand in Blue’s hair pivoted her head to the side to expose her neck, softly kissing the sensitive skin –

Until Piper paused mid kiss, her lips still pressed to Blue’s neck.

_Holy shit._

Blue must’ve noticed it too because she stiffened entirely under Piper and the entire scene came to a halt. Piper didn’t want to meet Blue’s face; she buried her face into Blue’s neck in an attempt to hide her face, but Blue had pulled back entirely and stolen Piper’s sanctuary as she met her eyes.

“You love me?” Blue said, still a little breathless but her tone suddenly serious.

Piper looked at the floor immediately, pursing her lips.

“I –“ Oh God, the stutter was coming out. Her words fell to the floor ungracefully like glass splintering upon a floor, feeling the heat flaming up in her cheeks. “I – Christ. I didn’t mean to – fucking hell…" 

“Piper, it’s okay.” Blue laughed, slowly lifting Piper’s head to meet her eyes. “I love you, too.”

“You – what?” Piper asked quizzically, her eyebrows raising to her hairline.

“I love you.” Blue said it so simply. The honesty in her voice made Piper almost feel dizzy. 

They both paused for a moment, Piper unable to control her smile as Blue grinned back, both laughing softly.

“I – I totally meant to be more romantic about this.” Piper admitted meekly.

“I can imagine.”

“I – God.” Piper full on grinned, her cheeks almost hurting. “But I love you. That feels so good to say – out loud. Finally.”

“I know.” Blue was beaming. “It’s nice.”

“I love you, you know.” Piper laughed, brushing Blue’s hair out of her face for a moment and twirling a red lock between her fingers. The words were so sweet on her lips, so light and airy and Piper could run to the printing press and run an entire edition saying nothing but those words and it still wouldn’t feel like a good amount. She craved them more and more, felt like she couldn’t say it enough times.

“And I love you.” Blue looked amused, but her eyes suddenly narrowed in a familiar look as her hands slowly crawled their way onto Piper’s back. The grip on Piper’s hip tightened a little as she lowered her head, lips brushing past Piper’s earlobe as she breathed, “Let me show you how much I do.” 

Piper couldn’t contain the shiver that went down her entire body if she tried. A small gasp escaped her lips as Blue bit her earlobe slightly, her mouth onto her neck in an intermittent mix of kisses and small bites as the hand on her back moved to the front, undoing the top buttons of Piper’s trademark jacket and untying the scarf with nimble fingers. Blue’s kisses lowered, breathy on her collarbone as her hand then moved under Piper’s shirt and cupped her breast.

A sound came out of Piper’s mouth that could’ve been a word but as Blue’s calloused fingers pinched at her nipple, it was completely lost in her throat. Blue’s mouth moved down further and Piper took the cue to shimmy out of her jacket as Blue shifted, her hand moving to Piper’s other breast. Blue shifted to reposition herself, pulling Piper’s shirt up as her mouth first kissed her sternum tauntingly, then moving to her other breast.

“You’re –“ Piper squeaked, her voice hitching as she felt Blue’s thigh between her legs, the contact absolutely maddening. “Fuck, you’re killing me.”

“Hmm.” Blue was absolutely smirking against Piper’s breast. “Tell me what you want, then.”

“I want you.” Piper was trying to grind herself against Blue’s leg, subtlety be damned, but cursed as Blue pulled it away. “Please.”

Blue’s hand began to trail southward at a mind-numbingly slow pace, her fingers playing with the button of her pants until she unfastened them. Her fingers danced along the edge of Piper’s waistline before they lowered and her finger stroked along her slickness, cursing under her breath at how absolutely wet she was. 

“Fuck.” Piper tried to remember how to breathe as Blue moved her underwear to the side, putting a first finger inside her and crooking it in a come-hither motion. Piper unabashedly rocked herself on Blue’s hand as Blue worked it inside her, slowly at first.

“Please,” Piper begged, grabbing onto Blue’s shoulders desperately. “Please.”

Blue groaned in her ear as she inserted a second finger, pivoting her hand so that her thumb swiped over her clit. Piper absolutely moaned, trying to muffle it against Blue’s shoulder.

“Fuck, Piper.” Blue breathed in Piper’s ear. “You drive me fucking mad. I love you.”

The words sent a jolt of white hot electric energy down Piper’s spine. “Say that again.”

“I love you.” Blue’s voice was getting ragged, her pace quickening. “I love you, I fucking love you, I love you –“

“I-“ Piper began, but her words were lost as her next syllables turned into some cross between a scream and a sob, the tight coil inside of her snapping, riding out her pleasure in intense waves. Blue held onto her tight as Piper scratched and grasped at her back, desperately trying to find something solid to hold onto as she peaked.

When Piper finally stilled she could distantly feel Blue stroking her sweat-slicked hair, kissing her temple gently, her cheek.

“Mmm’fine.” Piper mumbled, her eyes finally opening. “That was…just…”

“Yeah.” Blue agreed, her voice tight. “Wow. That was just…wow.”

Piper felt herself slackening, slowly succumbing to the sweet temptation of just falling asleep right then and there, but managed to find the will to speak. “What about-“

“I’m fine.” Blue waved her free hand, nestling herself closer to the reporter. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay.” Piper said, pressing her face into Blue’s chest as the vault dweller wrapped her arms around her.

“I’ve got you.” Blue pressed a kiss to Piper’s brow, rubbing her back. “Don’t worry.”

Piper hummed gently at Blue’s chest, her lips vibrating against Blue’s skin as she murmured “I love you.”

“And I love you.” Was the last thing Blue said as she continued to stroke her back, pressing kisses to Piper’s face until she faded from consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Welp, that had a little bit of everything, but writing the death of a political figure is a lot easier while listening to Rage Against The Machine. (Smut not so much. Still new at that.)  
> And if you don't believe that a modern Piper would be the kind of person who would listen to Rage Against The Machine, you're totally fucking kidding yourself.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thanks to everyone who's been really nice to me about my personal stuff. It means a lot, honestly. (I write emotional things but expressing emotions are not my strong suit, but it's really nice, I mean it.)
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's been leaving constructive criticism/reviews and stuff, I really appreciate that too. Keep doing it, you're great. I do rely on a lot of in-game dialogue, I realize. This chapter is pretty rife with it. Easter egg, bits of the dialogue of the "interview" was cut dialogue from Fallout 4.
> 
> Know that I will never stop apologizing for the length of this piece, so sorry about the horrendous length.
> 
> (And sorry for being late. First of the month, working a little overtime for rent. The horrible adult stuff that no one ever warned us about when we were little that leaves us scrounging for anything that will make us feel like a human with rounded emotions, most importantly joy, that usually ends up in binge watching Gilmore Girls until 4 AM.  
> At least it's not a year this time.)

Piper wiped the sweat and blood from her forehead with the back of her hand. She looked down at her glove – now smeared with crimson across the dark leather, her eyes still wide and shell shocked.

Her ears were still ringing from the grenade tossed near her about thirty seconds ago; a horrible, chance encounter of friendly fire by a Minuteman. It wasn’t close enough to hurt her and managed to tumble into the feet of four Gen 1 synths, their wires and metalwork exploding across the yard of the Castle.

Distantly, Piper could hear the sounds of lasers firing – of the shouts and orders coming from the Minutemen and the panic of the settlers who had taken residence within the Castle walls, the bullets and turrets firing upon Gen 1s and 2s and even a few Coursers who had suddenly turned up in an attempt to ambush and eradicate the Minutemen.

Piper never thought she’d be in a battle. She was a good shot, sure – but everyone who wanted to survive five minutes outside the walls of Diamond City had to learn to become one or die. Still, she tried not to kill unless it was absolutely necessary and even then, the feeling after doing so left a sinking feeling in her that sometimes shook her for hours and lead to restless nights. Even killing raiders – the scourge of the Commonwealth – left a sour feeling in her stomach; they had friends, children, possibly parents if they were alive still, and could have had a better life if they were only born somewhere else.

_I wonder if this normal for other journalists._

Her senses slowly started to return to her as the war raged on around her. Piper saw Preston about a hundred feet away crank the handle of his laser musket, his aim set on a Gen 2 above him. Even Curie – a former Ms. Nanny that they’d found deep within Vault 85 who had a desire to explore the world – was setting  a few synths straight that managed to approach her, apologizing profusely in French as she did.

And Blue. God damned Avery Bishop – blasting apart synths with a shotgun that she’d spent many a night fixing up to her own personal taste, a .45 on her hip that she’d switch to for further away targets – leading the charge, her face splattered in her own blood and absolutely covered in the strange fluids and oils that kept synths running. A real Ares on the battlefield, snarling and screaming at every enemy that dared approach her as she charged onward.

And God, she was so fucking hot.

The tides were already turning in their favor with the last of the synths being shot and blown apart on the yard.

“They’re retreating!” Preston yelled in the doorway of the Castle gates.

“Get every last one of them!” Blue screamed, her voice hoarse and a little out of breath.

More bullets rang out from the top of the wall and beyond it, and then silence.

“Taken care of.” A Minuteman called from on top the walls. A small cheer began to ring among the survivors. Another called out “Teaches the Institute to fuck with the Minutemen!”, and the cheers multiplied to shouting and whistling.

Except Blue. Piper saw Blue tuck away her shotgun silently, a distant look on her face as she looked out upon the horizon from whence the synths had come. Her jaw was tight and lip quavering as she turned to face away from her men, a small streak of tears washing away the grime and blood on her cheeks.

 

-

 

A silent night fell upon the fortress. The adrenaline of battle had worn off and while thankfully there weren’t many casualties, Blue, Preston and Ronnie Shaw had locked themselves inside of the General’s office and plotted for their next course of action. The Minutemen tended to their wounded but waited with bated breath; from the top of the walls that Piper perched herself upon, she could see the Minutemen repairing broken turrets, working on their muskets upon workbenches, trading materials amongst themselves to make their armor better, stronger, more durable.

They were preparing for war.

It had been four hours. Piper occupied most of the time writing notes for a next article on the edge of one of the walls, snacking on what was left in her pockets, halfway through a pack of cigarettes, attempting to find the words for an editorial on the Minutemen.

 _Might need a personal one-on-one from the General herself_. Piper felt a little heat rush to her cheeks. Sure, Piper had moved herself into the General’s quarters for a while now, even had a few of her own things officially moved in. Blue had a small, tucked away corner in most of her settlements and, in those small rooms and boxcars and tiny shacks, Piper’s presence was apparent too – a few 10 millimeter rounds, a few gumdrop wrappers lying around, some photos, ashed out cigarettes. Still, they really had to invest in some locks; Preston walked in on them the other day while Piper was sprawled out naked on the bed, her one hand covering her mouth in a desperate attempt to muffle her screams while the other was knotted in Blue’s hair, head between trembling thighs. He exclaimed something about a settlement when he entered, but after his awkward “ _Guess we can talk about this later_ ”, she absolutely wanted to die right then and there.

She took occasional puffs as she turned away to look out the stars and subfusc sky, humming along occasionally to the melodies of Radio Freedom faintly playing from the tower behind her, pen still in her hands.

It’d all started for a story, as it always had. It wound her chasing a Vault Dweller across the Commonwealth who was in desperate pursuit of her son. She became her friend and then her closest friend and then for many long, agonizing weeks, Piper felt herself slowly and, in her mind unrequited, begin to fall for Blue. And, to Piper’s initial surprise, Blue had felt the same.

Piper still didn’t asked the dreaded “So, what are we?”. It was slightly unnerving but equal bits tacky and, besides, they still had the Institute to deal with. They could talk about relationship status after this whole thing was solved out.

And then to battle. Not too different from the usual firefights they’d always managed to find themselves, it only took a little more concentration. Still, whatever may lie upon the horizon and what would come in post to this assault were up to the General and her associates.

She could hear a small rustle behind her. Piper whipped around immediately on impulse, hair raising on the back of her neck, hand already itching toward the pistol on her belt –

\- only to find Blue behind her, finally out of battle gear and armor and into a normal flannel with jeans, holding a bottle of something in her hand and two cups in the other.

“Hey.”

“Christ.” Piper let out the gasp she didn’t realize she took.

“Wow, you’re jumpy.” Blue teased, grinning a little.

“Ha, yeah.” Piper half laughed. “Easily spooked.”

 _Guess that happens after a few attempts on your life_. Getting snuck up upon always set off Piper a little; she had once thought that a journalist couldn’t consider themselves successful unless someone threatened their life – and, as her career grew, Piper had become very successful.

“This seat taken?” Blue inquired looking at the spot of grassy rubble next to her.

“Be my guest.”

Blue sat down next to Piper, settling the particularly dusty bottle that Piper didn’t recognize and two crystal, stemless glasses between them with a clink.

“Rum.” Blue said, pouring about two and a half fingers in her own glass. She popped open a bottle of Nuka-Cola next to her, topping off the rest.

“Funny, that.” She laughed, taking a sip of the strange concoction. “There’s whiskey, vodka, beer, wine – hell, even moonshine – and I had to fight three Yao Guai for this. I guess they drank all the good stuff after the bombs fell.”

She took another sip, looking out in the same direction Piper was a moment ago. “Can’t say I blame them.” Turning to Piper, she extended the bottle toward the reporter. “Want some?”

Piper eyed the strange liquor, taking it in hand with the crystal glass. “If this is some kind of prank, I’ll push you from this ledge.”

“No pranks here.” Blue raised her free hand in surrender. Then, pressing a soft kiss to Piper’s cheek that lingered for a moment as she put the bottle in her lap, she added “Only the good stuff for you.”

Piper didn’t need the alcohol to feel the heat rush to her cheeks.

“Alright, alright.” It was a little ridiculous that stuff like this could still rustle the butterflies in Piper stomach. Still, she made a similar drink to what she saw Blue make, her cigarette lazily wafting smoke off in her other hand as she did and took a small sip.

Piper still expected to grimace, but the stuff was…actually not that bad, considering Piper wasn’t too much of a drinker anyway. “Jeez, Blue, you guys really held out on the good stuff.”

Blue hummed. “Huh.” She shot Piper a half -cocked grin. “There must be a nice way of telling you ‘I told you so’. Gloating? Gently, as to not –“

“You know, I don’t recall asking.” Piper cut her off mid-sentence.

The vault dweller beamed at her. “I was hoping to find some champagne, but I imagine that must all be flat by now – or people were drinking that by the gallon when they thought the world was going to end.”

That one Piper hadn’t heard of. “Champagne?”

“Yeah. It’s – huh, how do I explain it?” Blue’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Like a very light wine – but not red. Kind of clear for the most part, but not vodka clear or anything; it was bubbly, kind of veiled a little bit by other tones, mostly gold, but it made you feel really giddy, honestly. Knocked your socks straight off.”

Piper mostly watched as Blue wildly gesticulated trying to explain something from an age long forgotten, unable to repress the smile that formed on her face.

_Sounds familiar._

“Sounds nice.” Piper murmured, muffled through the rim of her glass.

“Yeah, it was.” Blue looked wistful for a moment but immediately snapped out of it, a twinkle in her eye. “It was mostly for ritzy occasions. The head of our firm used to pop a bottle whenever we got somebody high profile locked up and would throw a small office party and everything.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They were fun, I guess.” Blue said, and then began to smirk. “I would have toted you around on my arm the entire time. Would’ve gotten an earful from my boss.”

“Yeah?” Piper’s interest peaked a little. “Because I’m a reporter, right?”

“Exactly that. Remember, us lawyers really take too fondly to your kind back in the heyday.”

“My kind?”

“God, that sounds so harsh when I say it, doesn’t it? You know, we just had different professions that often made the others life hell. Our work was a little cloak-and-dagger, digging up secrets and then bam, bringing them out to court. Provoking the emotional response, interviewing witnesses and suspects until the jury were ready to give them a verdict.”

Piper raised her eyebrow at Blue. “Our work doesn’t sound too different, Blue.”

Blue opened her mouth and tried to form a response – which Piper relished more and more with every second that passed, still giving the vault dweller a very pointed look.

“Well, yeah, I guess.” Blue finally admitted, until she added “But reporters are nosy snoops. If I left you alone for a moment in our office, you would have headed straight for the filing cabinet and dug out as much information as you could.”

Piper raised her glass to that. “Guilty as charged.”

“Yeah, well, you would have loved it.” Blue replied, leaning back for a moment. “Not like Nate. He never liked those parties, never came to one.”

Piper’s gloating look was wiped away immediately. Blue, realizing what she had said, clammed up immediately as well; she stood up straight right away, stiffening, looking out into the dusk with her jaw clenched.

Piper felt her stomach sink for a harrowing moment. From the scraps of information she’d garnered out of Blue (who did not like talking about her late husband in the slightest) he sounded like a decent enough man – high school sweethearts turned to lovers, rushing into becoming a married couple after Shaun dropped upon them like a nuclear bomb, Nate going off to war and coming back and everything became strained, their relationship a thread pulled tighter and tighter until it ultimately snapped.

 _I wonder if she would have preferred me to him_. Piper shook her head at the thought, looking down at her lap as her stomach churned further. She didn’t want to know the answer either way.

“So, tell me.” It came out before Piper could control it, but she was so curious. She’d been given bits and scraps of what the world before hers was like (mostly in little anecdotes from Blue whenever they were wandering, something like “God, this place had the best coffee” or “Rotten bastards, my wallet got stolen from this place once.”) “The world back then. What was it like?”

“What, another interview?” Blue teased well-manneredly, but she paused for a moment in thought as her face grew solemn. She reached into her pocket to procure a pack of cigarettes, lighting one as she spoke.

“It’s the same old thing. People fighting each other instead of working together. Everything going to hell, but no one doing anything about it.”

She took a long exhale. “Guess none of it matter anymore.”

“Guess so.” Well, that was about as much as Piper had expected. Trying to get Blue to open up about something – anything, regardless of how long they’ve known each other – was like trying to pry open a steel trap. “Jesus, it’s like talking to a brick wall sometimes.”

Blue looked over at her now, the cigarette hanging loosely between her teeth as she sported a pure, shit-eating grin. “Yeah? I’m that boring?”

“No,” Piper gave her a very dark look, eyes narrowing. “But you’re slowly making your way into the top five of my least favorite interviewees.”

“Piper Wright, you wound me.” Blue responded, which made Piper roll her eyes as soon as she said it. “I’m at least in top 20, but not five.”

“Oh, trust me.” Piper said through gritted teeth. “I’ve interviewed some pretty strange characters – and I’m not just talking ‘would fit into Goodneighbor like a hand on a glove’ kind of strange – but you are definitely up there.  Just below this guy who was trying to open a bar right outside of a nuclear geyser, Just barely above the guy who collected Radroaches and was trying to pitch legalizing them as pets in Diamond City – and don’t even get me started on the guy who was pounding on my door at 2 AM, trying to warn me about some kind of monster in Salem –“

“You know,” Blue deadpanned. “You’re really cute when you rant.”

“I’m not!” Piper seethed, the words tumbling out. God, she could feel the heat rush to her cheeks, her voice raising an octave – which made Blue’s grin even wider. “Shut up! I wasn’t – I’m not – and it wouldn’t even – ugh!”

 Blue shot Piper an exaggerated wink. Piper somehow found the scrap of self-control left in her system to not push her off the wall of the Castle.

“But yeah, your ‘interview.’” Blue air quoted, flicking the growing tower of ash off her cigarette. She watched as the burnt off ash carried off into the wind, her face growing a little more somber. “I had just given birth to Shaun a few months prior. It kind of occupied most of my time.”

“I’ll bet.” Piper scoffed. “Try raising a little sister sometime.”

Blue looked over at Piper as if to respond, her mouth half open until it turned into a small smile.

Piper’d never actually thought about it until now. Carrying a one-year-old Nat into the city on her back in a papoose slung around her front, a few books in her bag, a handful of caps and a gun. They’d slept on the bare mattresses that the citizens who couldn’t afford the luxury of a house resided. Making a shelter for Nat when it started to rain out of her own jacket – waking up soaking. Performing odd jobs for caps, scavving outside of the city when she found a caring eye to watch her sister for a moment where a victorious meal might’ve been a single can of Cram for the day. Running errands for Nick Valentine – God, she could never be able to thank him enough for putting her on her feet, tipping an extra thirty or so caps in her direction to “pick up some pens, won’t you?” because that bleeding (Oily? Piper didn’t quite know) heart couldn’t turn away a kid and her little sister. Stumbling across a printing press in lower Boston that she’d dragged back to the city single handed a few days after she’d finally been able to buy a house – maybe a year or so after she’d been working? She’d been remarkably thrifty for a teenager – and turning it into an office, a job, secure living.

Sure, they might’ve much had the same life in some very minor aspects. Piper just had a ten year lead and didn’t have the luxury of having a Mr. Handy around.

_Two sides, same cap, I guess._

“Did I ever tell you that they based the synths after Shaun?” Blue completely derailed Piper’s train of thought. Piper whipped around to immediately as she felt the shock course through her – and she looked up at Blue, jaw clenched, face barely repressing what must be a long-boiling anger.

“I – what?”

“They – the Institute.” Blue practically snarled the name, throwing out her spent cigarette in a rough, overhanded throw toward the water. “They used Shaun like some kind of lab rat. Raised him under their doctrines and sticking needles into him to build their Gen 3s – the ones that have skin, organs, blood. It’s all based off of him, locked away underground. He hasn’t even seen sunlight.”

“I’m – God.” Piper didn’t know what she could possibly offer, so all she gave was empathy. “That sounds horrible.”

“It is.”

Blue’s posture began to relax and she let out a long, heavy sigh.

“It’s just weird,” Blue sighed, closing her eyes as she shook her head. “Looking at a synth, killing a Courser – and knowing that your son’s blood is running through their veins.”

“Hey.” Piper reached out for Blue’s hand, interweaving her own fingers between hers. “It’s not your son. You’re not…killing your son. Those bastards at the Institute made them what they are, not you.”

Blue relaxed even further at Piper’s touch. She brought the reporter’s hand up to her face, kissing the back of her hand, peppering small kisses on each scraped and ink stained knuckle.

Piper smiled at the contact, but a thought came to her that manifested itself in a sly grin. “You’re Nick Valentine’s grandmother, kind of.”

“Oh. My. God.” Blue snorted, covering her face to suppress a giggle. “That’s – that’s, oh God. I can’t wait to hold that one over him.”

“’No more cases past nine o’clock or you’re grounded!’” Piper mocked, her voice lowering an octave.

Blue howled with laughter at that, grabbing her sides as small tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Piper caught up in the infectious laughter, her cheeks hurting.

They regained their composure after a minute. Piper hummed in contentment as the dark look melted off of Blue’s face, shimmying closer to the vault dweller. Blue squeezed Piper’s hand a little tighter and nestled her head in between Piper’s neck and shoulder, the sweet, strong scent of the rum and cola mixture heavy on her breath as she sighed against her skin, pressing a small kiss to the small bit of skin not covered by Piper’s scarf.

Piper closed her eyes, pressing a small kiss to Blue’s forehead, one hand stroking the red mess that was Blue’s hair (and only slightly regretted it in an instant; Blue had been so caught up in meetings that she hadn’t taken the time to shower and her hair was tangled, slick with Lord knows what). But still, she could definitely get used to this.

 “Curie’s my granddaughter too, I guess.” Blue wondered aloud, her mouth a little muted by her face currently being half buried in Piper’s scarf. “The rest of the Gen 3’s, too, I guess. Since I’m Shaun’s mother.”

“That’s…a bit weird, honestly.” Piper admitted, face scrunching together until she added with a slight teasing tone “Don’t tell her that, though. She’s barely beginning to understand human interaction as is. Might just short circuit.”

Blue stilled for a moment, her voice still muffled against the thick cloth of Piper’s scarf. “Piper.”

Piper raised her eyebrow. “Cap for your thoughts?”

“I –“ Blue began to surface from where she’d hidden herself – and that’s when Piper noticed the strange expression on her face, something cloudy with a small mix of fear that made Piper nervous just looking at it. “Just wanted to check in. Make sure things were alright between us.”

Piper cupped Blue’s cheek instinctually; the contact immediately made some of Blue’s tightly wound anxiety begin to melt away as she literally sank into the touch, which is what Piper’d hoped would happen.

“Someone sounds a little nervous.” Piper pointed out, then, her voice growing softer, “Well, you’ve got nothing to worry about. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time.”

 She pressed a small kiss to Blue’s forehead. “I’m out here with you.”

Blue closed her eyes, leaning into Piper’s lips a little more before she finally let out “Alright. I’m just starting to realize that…all of this is a lot more than you bargained for.”

Piper raised an eyebrow quizzically. “What do you mean, Blue?”

Blue sighed a deep breath, her eyes still closed. “I don’t know. Running off with a stranger after a baby and killing your neighbor –“

“Kellogg was creepy, anyway.” Piper offered with a teasing tone, but a darker part of her always felt a little guilty. She’d never really paid any attention to Kellogg. Or at the boy that lived with him – the synth Shaun who was meant to lure Blue in, sure, but she’d only caught glances at the tuft of red hair on his head since Kellogg kept him inside most days, not even to the schoolhouse, which Piper always thought was a little odd but she reckoned homeschooling was a parents business. Nat didn’t even know him, but Piper could’ve picked up on the clues if she’d only opened her damn eyes.

“- I mean, yes, but still. We’ve gotten pretty damn hurt over the way – and I’ve hurt you, which leaves me with many an evening of unbridled guilt when I lay in bed and take time to think about it. And it pretty much turned out to be useless, since Shaun is seventy-something and, literally, the head of a group of kidnappers and mass murderers and mad scientists.”

“Hey.” Piper raised Blue’s head gently with her hand under Blue’s chin until the vault dweller opened her eyes. “It’s been a hell of a ride.”

Blue snorted a little, the last of her anxiety washing away. “And this all started because of an article.”

“Yeah.” Piper repled, smiling as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind Blue’s ear. “But it’s the story of the century, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” Blue said simply, her voice finally gained its steadfastness. “You’re right.”

Blue pursued her lips for a moment before she backed away from Piper. She looked back at their long abandoned glasses and grabbed for hers, swirling it around for a moment before downing it all in a single swig.

Before Piper could even comment Blue turned toward her, expression stony. “We’ve decided to attack the Institute.”

The Blue that Piper knew was gone in that instant. That voice impartial, malignant and was strictly that of the General of the Minutemen, the one that barked commands on the battlefield and briefed her militia of routes to take, settlements to keep an eye on. For a brief moment Piper wondered if that was her lawyer voice back in the Pre War days, but she’d never really be able to know.

“I’m not surprised.” Piper concurred, grabbing her own glass now that they were separated. “They brought the fight to your doorstep.”

“I’m bringing Preston with me, along with a few Minutemen. Ronnie’s staying here if, worst case scenario, I don’t come back. She’ll take over as acting General-“

_Oh, no fucking way._

“You’re not being serious, are you?” Piper quipped, setting her glass against the stone brick a little forcefully with a loud clink.

Blue’s serious expression was broken in a single second, her face turning to one of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“You’re saying this as if I’m not coming with you. Because, trust me, I’m coming with you.”

Blue’s face shifted rapidly into a million different emotions and she almost looked like she was about to short circuit, which would have been funny to Piper in any other situation than this one. She maintained her eye contact with her; General of one of the largest armies in the Commonwealth or not, she was not going to tell Piper to stay put and wait for her to come back, goddamnit.

After a few moments, Piper interrupted Blue, who looked somewhere in the mix of anger, expectancy, and nearing a heart attack.

“You owe me this much.”

Blue froze entirely for a solid minute, the breeze and Radio Freedom the only thing they could both hear for the moment. The space between them felt like a mile and it was growing and growing with every second that passed, Piper’s heart falling in disappointment until –

“Fine.” Blue shook her head, closing her eyes. “You’re coming-“

“Yes!”

Piper shot her fist straight in the air in victory, almost knocking herself over in the forcefulness of it.

“If you didn’t say yes, I was going to bother Preston about it until he let me.” Despite the gravity of the situation, she was bubbling with almost a childlike excitement. “Oh God, the Institute – I mean, they’re bastards, don’t get me wrong. But the article I’m going to write about this – ‘The Insides of the Institute’, no, ‘Unveiling the Institute’, no. I’ll figure out the title later, that’s besides the point, but Jesus, Blue!”

Blue gave her an extremely amused look, to which Piper responded, “What? I’m gonna have your back and Preston’s and everything. I’m not –“

She reached out for Blue’s hand, grabbing it firmly. “I’m going to be with you every step of the way. I don’t know how this could be on you-“

“They deserve to burn, if you’re asking my opinion on the matter.” Blue’s voice was harsh as her eyes flashed in anger for less than half a second – and that was definitely a side of Blue that Piper hadn’t recognized, which almost made her recoil. “But I’m not excited to explain this all to Shaun, no.”

Piper squeezed Blue’s hand. “He can still be saved.”

“I can only hope.”

Piper didn’t want Blue to dwell too long on that thought so she added teasingly. “So, interesting discovery made just a few moments ago. You’ll just do anything I say if I ask it forcefully enough.”

Blue’s eyes widened, a dawning look of fear on her face. She paused – Piper imagined she was desperately trying to think of a comeback – but all that came out was a single, dreaded “Oh God.”

Piper pursued her lips, another thought coming to her. Her voice lowered an octave, giving Blue a very, very pointed look, an eyebrow raising.

“Or do you just like being told what to do?”

Blue stiffened entirely, her hand involuntarily gripping Piper’s hand – and the lights below, still beaming behind them, were just enough to point out the slightest flush and bit of goosebumps that very suddenly formed on the bit of forearm that was exposed, which Piper absolutely relished.

“Guess we can find out?”

“Doll,” Her arm slung around Blue’s. “We’ve got all night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: (I'm debating writing the smut that was alluded to at the end of this.  
> Might save it for another pairing I'm gonna embark upon - no hints, but it rhymes with "harmercy".  
> But Piper's totally a top, stop lying to yourselves.)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp.  
> I keet getting notifications of comments and kudos on my Gmail for this. It's been, what, a few years?  
> Might as well, right?  
> The next chapter only has a few paragraphs left. I promise it won't be long. This one is a little Blue centric and most of the dialogue is from the game but it was originally a part of the next chapter, which got somewhere around 20 pages.  
> So here's the filler.  
> And I'm sorry. Truly, I am. Should've gotten around to this a long, long time ago. Almost pathetic, really. But life is distracting, every Gmail notification put me into a sense of guilt and the longer I waited, the more I sank into that spiral. But here we go.  
> (also, totally forgot how to edit pieces. It's spaced pretty far. I'll fix this later.)

“I didn’t expect to see you again.”  
  
Piper stopped suddenly. She turned to the direction of the voice – the bed that she’d thought was unoccupied in the corner of her eye was very much so, deceiving to the eye based on the white coat matching the white bedsheets, nearly white hair as an old man, pale with what Piper imagined some kind of sickness, turned toward Blue. She could practically taste the bitterness in his voice of what seemed like an underlying hatred but, mostly, loss.  
  
She was drawn to him, now, a sick feeling in her stomach only growing as she studied his face for every detail. High cheekbones, a face full of freckles that have mostly faded away into liver spots and were hidden with wrinkles, a familiar nose, eyes that were some kind of golden brown that definitely weren’t familiar but she remembered Blue’s breakdown weeks ago like it was yesterday, that his eyes weren’t hers, but –  
  
She had to bite her lip hard to keep from gasping.  
  
_Is this…?_  
  
Blue’s voice was close to cracking, but she still maintained a somber, almost emotionless tone. “I’m sorry it’s come to this, Shaun.”  
  
“You’re sorry?” Shaun’s accused, eyebrows raised, almost as if he was scolding a child. “You can’t be that sorry if you’re here going through with it.”  
  
That tone Piper definitely recognized. Half the words were going in one ear and out the other as she stood there, transfixed at the leader of the Institute – who, months ago, she was dead set on unraveling everything he had built one article at a time but now she was finally here, finally in the chrome and cleanness that had now turned very Commonwealthian with bullet casings across the floors, spatters of blood against the walls and the trees, dismembered synths littered and scattered in the aceldama…  
  
She always imagined dismantling the Institute to be so much less violent than this but, of course, that was before she met Blue.  
  
“It’s not enough that I lay here, dying. Now you plan on, what, destroying everything?” Shaun stiffened, shaking arms propping him up so he could sit up and directly look at his mother. “Tell me then. Under what righteous pretense have you justified this atrocity?”  
  
Blue’s face contorted into some kind of unexplainable mix of emotion. She looked down at Shaun and Piper could see a glisten in the corner of her eyes as her look softened, but she turned then to the window behind him. The one overlooking the room in which the Bioscience lab had lead them to, where Coursers and synths and Minutemen alike had fallen, the scientists cowering behind whatever they could find as her expression turned stone cold.  
  
“I just want to watch this place burn.”  
  
Piper’s jaw dropped, backing up a few steps from the whole of this scene, looking at the terminal next to them in a desperation to do anything but this, be anything but here.  
  
“It’s hard to believe I’m related to you.”  
  
Piper knew in her heart of hearts that they must be nothing alike. This was the director of the Institute they were talking to, the person who was responsible for the kidnappings, the murders, all of it was laying before them, but to hear that tone in Blue’s voice - some kind of rage that she must’ve been internalizing for a while, because Piper had certainly never heard it before and a part of her was scared by that.  
  
“Well,” Shaun sighed, tone sarcastic now. “None of it matters now, I suppose. You’ll accomplish your task and ruin humanity’s best hope for the future. The only question left, then, is why you’re standing here. Is it regret? Or did you just come here to gloat?”  
  
Blue turned to him, venom in her stare as she walked a few steps toward him.  
  
“I just wanted to see you one last time.” She grabbed at a pistol on her hip. “Before your whole empire came crashing down around you.”  
  
  
Shaun’s anger was a mirror to hers, really, as he seethed at her. “Get out of here.”  
  
Blue turned to the terminal for a moment, completely ignoring Piper as she searched the desk for a moment, pocketing something. She bent to the terminal for a moment before she jerked, turning to Shaun instead as she held the pistol on her hip – one she carried around with her since she’d found it at Fort Hagen.  
  
“Do you recognize this?” Blue seethed through gritted teeth. Shaun turned away from her, refusing to speak. “This belonged to Kellogg. He’s the piece of shit that killed your father and took you from me. But you know that, don’t you? There’s no need to bother retelling it.”  
  
She placed the pistol on his lap.  
  
“This can be a way out.” Her tone relaxed, plaintive if only for a moment, a gentleness coming from her now that, in a sick sense, was matronly. “You can die in a fire or you can die now, killing yourself with the same gun that killed your father. Consider this an act of mercy.”  
  
She grabbed a piece of paper she had stashed in her pocket from the desk, sitting down now at the terminal that had the evacuation signal in it. The paper was crumbled – likely the password to the terminal, according to Piper’s deductions - almost as if it was an afterthought, the way she dragged it out of her pocket like it weighed fifty pounds, stopping from typing every few seconds to stare it, putting it down and picking it back up.  
  
Piper heard the rustling of sheets behind her. She whipped her head around in perfect timing to see Shaun weakly move his arm towards Kellogg’s pistol, sweeping it to the ground.  
Blue didn’t even seemed startled at the noise, continuing to type away at the terminal. Piper moved forward, her footsteps echoing in the deathly silence of the room as she bent down to pick it up.  
  
Piper could feel Shaun’s eyes on her. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before she looked up at him.  
  
His eyes were most certainly not Blue’s – especially not now as they were drowning in frustration, loss, the whole of him staring her down entirely, almost as if he could see through her.  
  
His eyes. Nate’s eyes. Definitely not Blue’s, but there was a familiar fierceness in them that made her feel like she was being stared down by the whole Bishop family at once, and Piper had never felt so small.  
“You aren’t one of my mother’s soldiers.” It wasn’t an inquisitive statement as much as it was matter of fact as his gaze left her, now to the pistol in her hands.  
  
“I’m not.” Piper’s voice was much higher pitched than intended, putting the gun on safety and at her hip now. “Not much of a soldier, that is.”  
  
There was no point in hiding anything, was there? This was Blue’s son and he was going to be dead in a while, she realized grimly. “My name’s Piper Wright-“  
  
“The reporter? Oh yes, I know all about you.”  
  
The clacking of the terminal keyboard stopped immediately. Piper heard the swivel chair creak towards her direction and, looking back, she saw Blue pivot herself towards them. There was an animosity in the air that was directed straight at him; if she thought the quiet rage of the destruction of the Institute was something, Piper could feel the magnitude of resentment and threat that absolutely raged from the vault dweller behind her, almost as if Blue was ready to pounce at any wrong move.  
  
Shaun looked past Piper at his mother, meeting her gaze for a moment, before a moment of clarity sparked in his eyes and he looked at Piper directly.  
  
“Oh,” He seemed to stiffen up for a moment. “I understand.”  
  
Piper could practically feel Blue bristling behind hr, dark thunderstorms forming right behind them both.  
  
“I’ll end it now,” Blue stood up with enough momentum that the swiveled chair flew back a foot or so. “If you try-“  
  
“Try anything?” Shaun scoffed. “I’m an old man, about to die in his bed. You’ve both seen to that. I never would have taken you for the type for murder,” His eyes darkened, turning to Blue. “But I guess we can’t be right about everything, can we?”  
  
Blue and Shaun stared each other down for a long while, both fuming, both underlying with a sense of regret, loss, and slight sorrow; at this point, Piper could read Blue like a book, no matter how hard Blue tried to hide her emotions behind literally anything that could cover them. It was scary how she felt she could understand Shaun like that. She was her girlfriend’s son, after all, and while she was appalled by the revelation of who Shaun was all that while ago in the Dugout Inn, the resemblance was starting to pop up and the lines blurring and –  
  
“Did you send out the evac?”  
  
Blue seemed shaken out of reality at Piper’s weak comment. She broke her iron stare with Shaun and looked over at the computer.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Let’s go, then.” Piper grabbed Blue’s forearm, smoothing over it for a moment with her thumb as she moved her toward the stairs. Her shoes suddenly felt like they had lead in their soles, dragging them over the pristine linoleum, a hole in her back burning through as she felt Shaun’s eyes on her and as Blue looked back over her shoulder at the pillar of salt she left behind.

 

 

The relay room. They finally made it.  
  
Blue had a large wound across her cheek from a rifle shot, a small smear of blood across her face when she lazily rubbed the worst of the bleeding away with the back of her hand. Piper made it out relatively unscathed – mostly thanks to Blue, who hollered and screamed at anyone who tried to take a shot at Piper in attempt to divert their attention, but she definitely had some shots in her she’d carry the evidence of. Preston had the bravest face of all – Piper definitely saw him fall funny on his leg and, while his face was transfixed with relief and a smile crossed his face as they finally passed out of the valley of shadow and death, there was a masked pain that Piper, intuitive as she was, could barely pick up.  
  
“Get us out of here.” Preston lowered his laser musket at last, looking around at the (remaining) Minutemen around him.  
  
Sturges didn’t look up from his keyboard. “I would, man, but…this kid showed up. Said he’s the General’s son.”  
  
Blue froze immediately, her face immediately falling into a perplexed – perhaps horrified – look. Piper just saw Blue take on hoards of synths and stare down death itself, but now?  
They rounded the corner, toward Sturges and Piper nearly had to clutch the door to keep her steady.  
  
There he was.  
  
The red hair, shaggy and messy. High cheekbones. Covered in about every freckle imaginable to the point that it almost looked like dirt but here he was, standing in front of them in the flesh.  
Shaun.  
  
She’d seen him before in passing – God, in retrospect, how did she not put together the pieces? – when he was living with Kellogg in Diamond City, but they always kept to themselves. He was a pleasant kid, or, at least, looked like one when she had brush past him in the market once or twice but now here he was. Blue’s son. In front of them.  
  
After all this time travelling with Blue, Piper thought she could read most of any emotion that she was feeling – not that she was an open book, because she would rather walk through a field of glass than admit when something was bothering her or making her upset – but her jaw was clenched, her hands closing into fists, absolutely stone faced.  
  
Shaun walked up to them – equally perplexed, but more with an air of anxiety.  
  
“Please, mom, don’t leave me here! I want to go with you!”  
  
Blue had her back turned toward Piper and the rest, but she was practically quivering with – rage? Sorrow? Relief? Piper wasn’t quite sure, and that in itself caused her stomach to sink.  
  
Blue answered him through gritted teeth. “Why did you call me mom?”  
  
“What? You’re my mother! Why else would I call you that?”  
  
Blue’s tone was demanding, almost as if she was interrogating someone. “Who told you I was your mother?”  
  
“What do you mean?” Shaun cocked his head. “Nobody told me. You just are.”  
  
Blue paused for a moment, giving out a bitter laugh, rubbing her temples. “Oh, this is just what I need right now.”  
  
Shaun’s posture straightened, scowling. Piper knew that face exactly – it was the one Nat would use whenever she was frustrated that something wasn’t going exactly as planned. “I’m not a baby. And I’m old enough to take care of myself. The only help I need is to get out of here. Now can we go please?”  
  
Blue simply stood there. It seemed that an hour passed by. Then another. Then another.  
  
Piper and Preston exchanged a worried look before Piper, shuffling silently toward Blue, weighed back by worry almost like shackles around her ankles.  
She put her hand on Blue’s shoulder, only realizing as her hand fell upon her that Blue was shaking.  
  
“Blue-“  
  
She forcefully shrugged it off as soon as they made contact.  
  
Blue was rational. Cool headed. Most importantly, caring. Loving, even, Piper knew that firsthand. She hated the Institute – and Shaun, in the other side of the coin of loving him that was a whole can of worms that Piper didn’t know if Blue would ever open. But this was a child. Blue wouldn’t take the prejudices she had against the Institute – and Shaun, for that matter – against her child. Any child, in the least.  
  
_Right?_  
  
Piper wasn’t 100% certain, and that alone made her sick.  
  
“Blue.” She said one more time, looking back at Sturges. “We need to go.”  
  
Blue was still fixed in place. Another anxious heartbeat passed before Blue spoke, her voice quavering, a sigh.  
  
“Right, of course.” It sounded more like something being admitted than a sigh of relief, but Piper felt the worry wash over her. “I’m your mother.”  
  
“Good.” Shaun beamed, likely oblivious to Blue’s inner turmoil. “For a second I thought you forgot who I was. Now let’s hurry up and get out of here!”  
  
“All right.” She turned toward the group now – her eyes were red in the brief moment she opened them but she mostly remained stoic, walking toward Sturges again. “You can come with me.”  
  
Shaun followed behind Blue like a lost puppy, excitement seeming to set in. “Really? Do you mean it?”  
  
Blue turned toward him and, despite it all, shot him a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. “What, you don’t believe me?”  
  
“No, no, I totally do.” Shaun backpedaled, looking a little sheepish. “What I mean is…thanks. Now let’s get out of here.”  
  
Blue reached Sturges at last, murmuring for a moment about firing the relay. Shaun stood between Piper and Preston, looking at the both of them.  
  
“Hi.” Shaun beamed at them, curious.  
  
“Uh.” Piper felt a little lost for words.  
  
_This is your girfriend's son, for Christ's sake. Think of something to say._  
  
“The outside’s pretty scary. But we’ve got you, you’ll be safe.” She turned to Preston, who gave Shaun an affirming nod, lowering his musket and giving him a smile.  
  
"I bet.” Shaun was full of a childlike wonder, looking at the two of them, beaming. “But, I mean, I’ve got my mom, right?”  
  
Piper looked over at Blue, who was hunched over the computer with Sturges, sending out the final codes to get them – and now Shaun – out of here, to where they would be teleported to the top of a building to blow up the Institute – and the much older Shaun, which Piper was sure hurt the smallest part of Blue that she might have carried with her since she got out of Vault 111.  
  
The part of her that longed for the days before the war.  
  
The part of her that would have done anything for Shaun because he was her baby. He was missing. And she loved him.  
  
Blue’s gaze finally raised – not looking toward Shaun but at Piper, her eyes cold, almost calculating, still burning with the same fury that she walked into the Institute with but red brimmed, watery. Afraid.  
  
“Yeah.” Piper felt herself say aloud in response to Shaun, her voice a little weak. “You sure do.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as soon as I published that last chapter and was all "hurr I'm gonna post the next chapter" I literally - literally - dropped my laptop minutes later. After a desperate trip to the PC repair shop I managed to get it refurbished - at the cost of losing everything on my computer. Luckily most work stuff was on Google, but here's this chapter rewritten mostly from memory over a series of two nights with a lot of coffee.  
> Sorry for the length yet again.

After the Institute was destroyed, the Commonwealth finally let out one collective sigh of relief. Diamond City raised the blue and white Minutemen flag on practically every building. The Minutemen themselves, after mourning their fallen from their take-down of the Institute, seemed to work with a renewed zeal to them, finally being able to focus more on the actual protection of the more immediate threats of the Commonwealth rather than worry about the boogeyman that lurked in the shadows.

But Goodneighbor? They knew how to throw a party.

Piper was trailing down a story of a chem cartel that, somehow, had ended up leading to the death of one Nelson Latimer. How the son of one of the elite echelon of the Upper Stands ended up being axed was something of a mystery, and Piper had just made it to Goodneighbor following a lead. It ended up dry – as many leads do, which was an unfortunate thing in this line of business, so the best thing to do was to either A) give up and go home or B) wait it out a little longer, set up camp and wait for opportunity to arise. 

Besides, if she knew Blue as well as she did, she was probably hanging out in the Third Rail drinking herself into a stupor.

Blue had spent all but one day in Diamond City after the destruction of the Institute. They practically paraded her around on the street, shoved their caps in her pockets, treated her like a walking saint. Blue sheepishly turned down most people who came to her to sing praises, with one particularly incessant man getting a hard shove after Blue had a few too many at the Dugout Inn that would have probably turned violent if Piper weren’t there.

Blue wasn’t too comfortable being a semi-citizen, quasi-celebrity, so after that singular day she spent back in Diamond City, she packed up her things and ditched town. She said she needed some time to herself (even dropping the cheesy “it’s not you, it’s me” line that got her a quick elbow in the side from Piper) to clear the air and really, just to lie low for a while. She gave Piper a swift kiss, grabbed her backpack, her guns, and Dogmeat and off she went.

Every few days or so she would come back to (or pass out in front of, depending on how badly wounded she was) Publick Occurrences. They’d be able to spend maybe a day or two together, most often spending the entire time in Piper’s office itself, making repairs on the consistently-breaking printing press, regaling Piper and Nat on stories of how she was now following a missing persons case or infiltrating a raider encampment or whatever she had gotten off to next. After that she’d just pack up her things again like nothing had happened, give Dogmeat a pat, and off they’d go again.

Sure, it was a bitter pill not knowing where her girlfriend was or even how she was doing. Still, she knew that Blue needed time to decompress everything that had just happened, and, while Blue was notorious for her lack of healthy coping skills, there were certainly worse ways of getting through.

The air was thick with smoke, raucous laughter echoing off the concrete walls of the Third Rail. Piper tucked a cigarette behind her ear, following the ever deliquescing, low lit candles leading down the stairs to the bar itself. It was late in the day; the one or two honest working people in Goodneighbor were probably asleep by now, which meant it was ample time for the bar to be packed to the gills with the “honest working people” of Goodneighbor. Magnolia was singing a velvety song in the corner of the room, MacCready was offering a sales pitch to a few harder looking folk of hiring “the best shot in the Commonwealth” -

\- and, just as Piper had predicted, there was Blue. Matted red hair, sunburnt freckled skin, dirty sunglasses resting on a cute-as-a-button nose, a Gwinnet Pale beside her.

Piper leaned against the wall, waiting a few moments until Blue would finally see her in the crowd. It happened after a minute or so and then they finally made eye contact, Piper shooting her a wolfish grin and Blue looking something like a Radstag caught in headlights.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Piper relished a little in the shock on Blue’s face, pulling the cigarette from behind her ear as she grabbed a seat next to her at the bar top. “And, darlin’, do you have a light?”

Blue, almost as if there was some kind of delay, fumbled for a moment before retrieving her lighter from a filthy flannel pocket and flicking it. 

“Pretty women don’t light their own cigarettes.”

Piper shot her another grin, taking a long, deliberate drag. “You know, if you were a man I’d say that that sounded chauvinist. But, since you’re not, I’ll just have to call it patronizing.”

“Oh.” Blue backpedaled. “No, I didn’t mean-”

“Relax, Blue.” Piper shot her another grin. “You’re fine. You’re nothing short of chivalrous at any given time.”

Piper could see the cogs slowly begin to turn again in Blue’s head as her entire demeanor relaxed, the surprise turning into a low, sultry look. “I dunno. I can think of a few times where I haven’t.”

Oh. Piper felt a small flush go to her cheeks despite the sobriety. “You’ll get a girl excited with that kind of talk.”

“Trust me.” Blue was back in full throttle, shooting Piper a grin. “That’s the intention.”

The packed air just got that much warmer. Piper was regretting the trademark heavy red jacket.

Before Piper could try to stutter something out, Blue cast off the sensual demeanor. “You found me pretty easily, then?” Her tone was more of a matter-of-fact than a question.

“Well,” Piper gave the dirty, battered survivor a quick up and down. “I figured you’d either be drinking yourself unconscious somewhere or dead in a ditch by now.”

“I’ve been narrowly avoiding the latter.” Blue shrugged. “But just narrowly.”

“Oh, narrowly. Of course. If that’s what we’re calling nearly dying on my doorstep every other week-”

“One Deathclaw and you never let me live it down.”

“Only because it’s becoming a habit for you.” Piper sighed. “We’ve been through multiple Deathclaws at this point, not to mention Gunners, raiders, Super Mutants -”

“And, if anything, that’s a testament to our durability together.” Blue’s tone was playful at first but, as if in afterthought to what she just said, she leaned over onto Piper, putting her head on her shoulder. 

Piper kissed the top of her head, earning a long hum of contentment from Blue. Blue was not a touchy-feely person when they’d first met but now she practically leaned into every touch with a soft sigh, her eyes fluttered shut with every kiss like she hadn’t been kissed in over 200 years, relishing in every hand upon her like she was starved for affection.

_Maybe she was, after all._

“Mmm, yeah.” Piper’s eyes closed – for the moment, no one in the bar existed but those two. “Guess so.”

At that, Blue nuzzled even closer into her, pressing her lips into the crook of Piper’s neck, sending a slight flush to the reporter’s cheeks.

“You know,” Piper offered. “If you wanted to find some better judgment again, you know where to find her.”

Blue stilled entirely.

“I’m – I can’t –“

“Why?”

It came out a lot louder than Piper intended, which earned a grimace from the vault dweller. Blue froze in place for a moment before straightening herself up and sitting, grabbing her beer bottle and giving it a long swig. 

Blue looked off into the distance for a brief second. “I can’t be around people right now. I’m still-”

“Coping?”

“Compartmentalizing.” Blue gave a halfhearted, incredibly weak smile. “Going around ‘n bottling up my problems like a fine wine. Storing them in the good ol’ memory cellar so they’ll never see the light of day.”

“I’m not even going to start on how unhealthy that is.” Piper’s tone softened, giving Blue a concerned look.

“I’m aware of how unhealthy it is. I’m...just trying to pretend nothing happened.”

“Blue.” Piper ashed her cigarette on a dirty ceramic tray on the bar top, looking around at the drunk, laughing patrons all gathered together in the masses. “This is, quite literally, the singular most historic event that has happened in the past dozen years. It’s not going to be forgotten for a while-”

“They weren’t there, Piper.”

Well, that was true. Destroying the Institute was only a matter of a few pieces of computer code, but the fight to get that was something else entirely. She could remember the swim through a sewer tunnel (which, as horrific as it was, smelled better than Blue did nowadays) and the push through the old facility into the new. Synths overwhelming them, Minutemen falling around them, Blue yelling and pushing her team through it all, the scientists that cowered behind plants and any kind of cover they could find – and their screams when a stray bullet found their way, their blood pooling and dripping down the steps – 

It was a bit of shell shock, to say the least.

“Blue,” It was easy to have a non-intruded conversation in a bar like this. Loud laughter, cheers, arguments in the corners of the room, jazz rounding across the room and into everyone’s ears could keep average talk at the bar hidden from prying ears, but this was something a little more serious than an average talk at a bar – 

Piper looked in the direction of the VIP area – where they’d first met MacCready, likely unoccupied currently, considering he was (very blatantly) bragging at the bar now to a few ladies, considering his potential clients had no interest.

“Would you want to take this more...private?”

Despite the emotional weight that literally weighed down Blue, she found the force to sit up a little straighter, a mischievous glint forming in her eye.

“Mmm,” She shot Piper an eyebrow. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Piper groaned but Blue still (a little clumsily; not that she was fully drunk, but Piper knew Blue well enough by now to tell when it was starting to get into her system) rose up from the bar stool, putting a few caps on the bar top before stretching out her legs a moment and following Piper.

Once in the VIP room (which was tacky enough as is, what with the low lighting and worn, stained with God-knows-what leather couches), Blue plopped down on the couch, her feet on the armrest.

“Well, doc.” Blue said, her voice an exaggerated sigh. “It all started when I was young-”

“Nobody in the Commonwealth could be paid well enough to be your therapist.”

“Doesn’t stop you from trying.”

“Yeah,” Piper huffed matter-of-factly, moving Blue’s legs out of the way so she could sit next to her and not stand over. “Because I care about you and your mental well-being. A revolutionary concept.”

Blue pursued her lips a moment. “That’s...well. I knew that already.”

Finally, Blue’s posture straightened, a look of seriousness finally waxing across the whole visage of her. “I care about you too, for the matter.”

“I know that.” Piper grabbed for her hand. “And you’ve been there for me. But we need to talk.”

Blue’s eyes widened immediately in a very sudden fear. She stiffened against Piper’s touch, shrinking underneath her, and Piper cursed to herself in her head.

“No!” She interjected before that worry Blue was diminishing into could manifest any further. “Jesus, sorry, not like that.”

She smoothed her thumb over the top of Blue’s hand, hoping that it would almost wipe the worry away – which it was, to a certain extent, but Blue looked in a bit of aftershock.

“You know why.” 

Not that she’d compare Blue to Nat, but being an older sister – and essentially a parent figure – to Nat gave her a sense of being able to calm down someone who thought the end of the world was nigh (again).

It also spiked up the occasional maternal instinct, which Piper usually attempted to bury deep, deep down. She loved Nat, but Piper Wright being a mother? 

_Christ. I can hardly take care of a printing press, let alone a person._

“Walk me through it. Talk me through it. If you want. But, y’know, I’m here for you regardless.”

They both knew the answer. It was the Institute, there was no doubt about that, but on top of it, there was – 

“Shaun.” Blue murmured, her voice so low and uncertain that the wind could blow it away. “It’s – I –“

She sighed, burying her face in her hands. “I just don’t know what to do.”

“You can stop wandering off into the wasteland by yourself, that’s a starter.”

“It’s not a death wish, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Blue replied, her voice still muffled. “I just don’t know how to be around so many people right now.”

“Blue,” Piper tentatively put her arm around Blue – who, naturally, sank into it and Piper with a low groan. “People are just grateful right now. You destroyed...well, the biggest, scariest threat to them since –“

“I almost destroyed it all, Piper.” Blue’s voice wavered, shaky with forthcoming emotion.

She sat up at last – her eyes red, although not teary, and Piper realized for the first time the bags under her eyes and how downright exhausted the vault dweller looked.

“Not...not just the Institute, I mean.” Her voice got even weaker. “I didn’t want to send out the evac code. I don’t think I would have if you weren’t there with me.”

Piper froze. Blue’s face contorted into a rage similar to the one she bore on the day that the Institute burned to ashes.

“And that scared me. I hated them so much that I wanted them all to burn.

“And Shaun.” Her eyes squinted shut, giving a long exhale through her nose. “To think of how much time I spent on him, looking for him. It was all in vain. And he was a horrible person, Piper, but he was still my son. I killed the last bit of Nate in the world, and I killed my son, and I didn’t even feel bad about it in the moment.”

“Blue-”

“Don’t.” Blue waved her hand at Piper’s weak reply. “I know what you’re going to say. That I’m a murderer.”

“No.” Piper put her hand on Blue’s face, turning the vault dweller towards her so she could look her in the eye. “I’m sorry.” 

Blue’s eyebrows raised.

“Sorry?!” Blue sounded in absolute disbelief, her face and eyes going through a thousand emotions at once.

“That you feel like this.” Piper offered. “I can hardly imagine what that’s like. I – I mean, I don’t know what I’d do, either.

“But what’s important is that you didn’t do it.” Piper stroked Blue’s hair (regretting it but for a moment, considering it was unbelievably greasy and full of dirt and probably dried up gore), tucking a wisp behind her ear, cursing that maternal instinct for flaring itself back up again. “You were caught up in the heat of the moment. The Institute did horrible, horrible things and did it deserve to be destroyed? Yes. But you weren’t a murderer that day, and intrusive thoughts are scary, but you didn’t act on them because, deep down, you’re a good person.”

“I killed Shaun.” Blue’s voice was barely above a murmur. “My only son.”

Piper, although her career revolved around writing and the news, struggled to find the proper words for Blue.

“I guess if there’s any blood on my hands,” Blue looked away. “It would be his.” 

She gave a dry, non humorous chuckle. “What, will these hands ne’er be clean?”

Of course. It was hardly enough that the Institute was destroyed – and for the moment, Blue intended on destroying everything in that underground fortress – but now she knew that her son was nothing but ash, blowing away in the wind across the Commonwealth…

Piper tried not to think about it every time she passed Cambridge. In fact, she would circumvent her way around it and take the long route every time it was possible, ignoring the gray-painted buildings that were caught in the aftermath.

“Because you didn’t decide to kill everyone else.” Piper tried desperately to bring the topic back to her main point she was trying to get across. “And made that conscious decision. You saved lives – not to mention all of the people that are going to be safe thanks to the fact that the Institute isn’t in the picture.”

“And, for the record.” Piper pressed her forehead to Blue’s. “I am your better judgment. And if you even hesitated on that evac I would have sent it out myself and thrown you off the balcony.”

Blue gave a weak smile, her eyes still red, sniffling for a moment. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

“You’re so fucking weird.”

“Yeah, well.” Blue closed her eyes, sighing. “You signed up for this.”

“And, for the record, I gladly would again.”

Piper leaned into Blue, her hand guiding the vault dweller closer into a kiss -

\- before Blue turned away.

Piper raised an eyebrow, about to say something snarky before Blue spoke up again, her voice faltering.

“Shaun.”

Piper cocked her head. “What about him?”

“Not Shaun.” Blue rectified. “I mean...Shaun. The younger Shaun. The one Kellogg used as bait.

“I read the files.” Blue backed away from the closeness of the near kiss, her back against the couch again. “He’ll never grow older. He has Shaun’s memories from that age – programmed to remember Nate as his father. I – I’m not sure. About the entire thing.

“He’s my son. The one I was looking for in the end.” Blue sighed. “But what they did? It’s not fair.

“I thought I was so close to finding him. My child. But the Institute – Shaun used that synth as a dirty trick, and I hate them and him for that even more, but that – Shaun. The child. I almost feel like I don’t trust it.”

“Him.” Piper corrected. “You don’t trust him. Not it.”

“Him.” Blue parroted, nodding. “But it still feels like – I don’t know. I feel like can’t trust him. Like there’s one more rabbit up Shaun’s sleeve and it’ll be a back-stab from the grave.”

“Piper.” Blue looked at the reporter, dead serious. “Tell me. Would you do this if Nat was replaced by a synth? Would you take her in?”

If she were standing, Piper would have taken a step back. Instead, she inched herself away from Blue slightly, taking her hands off of her girlfriend’s face.

A slideshow reeled in her head. Watching Nat grow up from a baby to a child – changing her diapers, holding her hand as she walked to school, packing her lunches and, as her fiery sister showed interest in the newspaper, teaching her about reporting and how to use the press.

She was the closest thing Piper held dear to her – other than Blue, but that was in an entirely different way. If she was up and snatched, replaced by a synth? It was the subject of her worst nightmares, but in that situation...

“Yes.” Piper replied, her voice descending into a low-level furor. That maternal instinct – the one where she’d rip out the throat of anyone who would try to hurt Nat – came into full effect inadvertently, and she felt herself bristle a little. “In a heartbeat. And I can’t believe you’d ask me that.”

Blue grimaced, shrinking under a near-to-bursting Piper. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

“He’s your son.” Piper tried to get it through to Blue, her tone a little harsher than normal. “Biologically. He’s Shaun. And he’s probably full of interests and – Jesus, things that are probably similar to you and Nate – and you’ll never know because you won’t take the time to get to know him.”

Blue’s expression immediately turned guilty and she opened her mouth as if to speak, but Piper continued before she could say anything.

“You’ve taken the time to help out other synths.” She pointed her finger at Blue. “What makes this one so different? And what’s Shaun gonna do – call out a dozen Coursers to kill you? They’re all dead. He’s at the Castle right now, being babysat by Preston because he’s alone, above ground for the second time in his life besides Kellogg, all because his mother won’t come visit him.

“There’s so much that we’ve done, Blue.” She was almost desperate. “But, until you see him – and at least get some closure – its not over. And it never will be until you do.”

Blue ran her hand through her hair, that guilty expression set in stone on her face, murmuring something inaudible.

“Can’t hear you, Blue.”

“I said ‘you’re right’.” Blue’s voice was thick with emotion. “I need to...need to...”

“Hey, it’s alright.” And, like that, Piper wrapped Blue tightly into her arms, feeling the vault dweller hiccup against her in a calm before an outburst. “I’m here.”

“Please be there with me.” Blue’s voice was muffled by Piper’s jacket as she buried herself into it. “When I go see him.”

Piper was glad Blue couldn’t see her face, but she still replied, “Yes, of course.”

Seeing her son. With Blue. That had a lot of implication – if Blue decided to bring in any implication – to it. 

If she thought the potential “what are we?” that they had before they started dating was uncomfortable, the potential “do you want me involved in your child’s life and do we even want to take a route like parenting?” was something that Piper wanted to run away from entirely.

But, hell. If Blue had to burn her bridge on the way to Shaun, she'll have to jump the valley between it and follow suit.

Blue unearthed her head from Piper’s jacket – God, her eyes were bloodshot at this point, although no tears came from them – and, bringing her arms around Piper, pulled her into a desperate kiss.

It was more forceful than their regular, softer kisses that they were used to. Piper gasped into Blue’s mouth against the intensity of it, grabbing desperately around Blue, pulling her closer until they were pressed against each other.

After a minute Blue pulled away from her – God, her eyes very suddenly dark, lips parted and finally coming up for breath, and Piper probably looking like everything she was thinking.

“The Rexford.” Piper breathed. “I have a room there.”

Blue simply nodded, awestruck, taking Piper’s hand as Piper got off of her and they both stood up, starting to walk towards the tunnel that would lead them back to the main bar –

Before Blue turned around. She grabbed onto Piper’s wrist – not forcefully, but enough to spin Piper around to face her.

“I can’t wait that long.” Was all Blue said before she pressed her mouth against Piper’s again.

Despite Piper’s shock – not reluctance, certainly, but they were in public, damn it – she pulled (or Blue pushed, or a bit of both) until Piper’s back was against the cupboard, Blue pressed against her.

Blue’s mouth moved to her neck, pressing kisses along her jaw.

“I missed you so much.” Blue’s voice was almost a growl, punctuating the end of her sentence with a small bite at the crook of Piper’s neck.

“I missed you too.” Piper’s voice raised an octave, which made Blue give a small laugh at against her neck.

Blue’s one hand wrapped itself around Piper’s waist, another snaking itself into Piper’s jacket. Her hand went to Piper’s breast and she swallowed the gasp that came from the reporter at the touch. 

Her mouth went back onto Piper’s neck, pressing wet, open mouthed kisses against her, alternating with a small bite every so often, grinning into Piper’s skin at every moan she drew out. She grabbed Piper’s ass, that one hand on her chest lowering to the hem of her shirt until it went underneath it, her hand hot against her stomach and – 

“Wait.” Piper gasped. Blue’s hand froze immediately.

Her mind was foggy as she struggled for words, voice raspy with want. “We’re in public.”

“Guess you’ll just have to be quiet.” 

The words sent a shiver down Piper’s spine, clenching her legs together subconsciously. Blue’s voice was low, but her hand was still frozen against her. She moved until she looked Piper dead in the eye. 

Questioning. Waiting. Asking for permission.

That thumb was still just above her navel, drawing patterns against her skin. Her nose brushed against Piper’s one more time before Piper, her eyes fluttering shut, grabbed at Blue’s hair and pulled her back into a deep kiss. 

Blue’s arm around her waist moved to Piper’s shirt as well. One hand grabbed around the small of Piper’s back. Another grabbed at the hem of the shirt, raising it up so slightly to get to the button of her pants, undoing it with deft agility.

“I missed this.” Blue murmured in her ear, voice thick and full of want and the hot breath against her made Piper shudder. Blue, extremely slowly, pulled down the zipper of Piper’s pants. “You’re so fucking hot.”

“I – fuck.” Piper started until she gave a loud gasp, her eyes shutting tightly as Blue’s hand finally – finally – made its way into her underwear, Blue giving out a low moan at how absolutely downright soaked she was.

“Shhh.”

Right. They were in public. In a completely sectioned off room of a bar, sure, but as Blue finally went inside of her she bit on Blue’s shoulder to muffle the loud gasp that would have emanated from her, her teeth sinking into Blue’s skin, earning a moan from Blue.

It was almost embarrassing how quickly it took her. Mere minutes of Blue’s gentle rhythm of her fingers until they weren't so gentle anymore, quicker and harder and Piper choking against Blue’s shoulder, arms scrambling desperately against Blue’s back, the sounds of the bar and the jazz and the laughter fading into nothing but Blue’s breathing and, eventually, nothingness as her entire vision went white. She bit down hard on Blue’s shoulder and barely contained the scream that came from her, Blue holding her the entire time.

Piper came down to earth after a few minutes, Blue pressing soft, gentle kisses to her face, holding onto her girlfriend tightly; if she weren’t, Piper was almost sure she would have collapsed, due to the fact that she felt like her knees would crumple in any moment.

“You good there?”

“Mhmm.” Was all Piper could make out, her eyes still fluttered shut as Blue pressed a kiss to her temple, waiting a few minutes until Piper was positive she could walk before she grabbed her hand.

“Come on. Let’s get to the Rexford.”

“Only if you take a bath first. No offense, but you smell like an open road – and not in a good way.”  
“Deal.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: this was originally going to be a part of the final chapter, but I eventually looked at my page count and realized I was approaching 20. So here's a part of that, but the next installments are coming. I promise.

For a good, long portion of the journey, there wasn’t much banter between Piper and Blue.

Sure, there were a lot of shared stimpacks – because even though the Mirelurk queen was slain months ago, the trip down to the Castle was still a trip directly into Mirelurk country – but the silence between them was pretty hard to handle. Blue was never this quiet in the very long time that Piper had known her, which was concerning in itself.

“We’re almost there.” Blue turned around in the dingy alleyway that they were in to Piper, who was a few paces behind her, the vault dweller a little red in the face while she attempted to catch her breath; the trip so far had been a bit over 5 hours, and the only pauses they’d had in between were the occasional scuffles with Raiders, mutants, and Mirelurks. “You all set to go?”

“Um.” Piper knew that tone of voice exactly – there was a grimace in her voice that revealed just how exhausted and ragged she was, but Piper knew Blue enough to know that she’d sacrifice her own comfort if it made the other person satisfied.

Which, in a selfish thought that Piper _knew_ was selfish, wasn’t exactly something to complain about in the bedroom. Not that she was any pillow princess, per say, but the fact that Blue could – and loved to – lavish her with attention for hours…

Piper’s face quickly turned red, but at least it might be convincing enough to pass off as exhaustion to the equally flushed vault dweller.

“Actually,” Piper mustered, leaning into a Nuka Cola machine behind her for extra dramatic effect. “I’m pretty exhausted. Could we wait around a little while?”

Sure, it was a little white lie – Piper had a surprising amount of endurance for someone of her demeanor. Still, while Piper’s motto was that the truth shall set you free, sometimes it was necessary to lie to Danny to get back into the city or to even pass oneself off as an acolyte of the Children of Atom. After time and practice, she got pretty good at it.

“Yeah.” Piper could see the tiny micro-expression of relief that flashed across the vault dweller for only a second. “That’s fine with me.”

Blue reached into her pocket for a moment, retrieving a pack of Grey Tortoises, taking one out and giving it a light.

Piper’s eyebrow raised. “You know, if you were trying to catch your breath, that’s not exactly the best way to do it.”

Blue gave her a raised brow in return, her lips curling into a grin while the cigarette remained staunchly between her teeth. “Yeah, but it helps take the edge off.”

“Of hiking?”

“Best believe it.”

“Still a stupid idea.” Piper paused a moment. “Can I have one?”

Blue frowned. “This is my last one. Do you wanna share?”

“Fine by me – it’ll cut the time that you eventually get lung cancer in half. For now.”

“If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black-”

“Shut up.”

Piper snatched – not forcefully, but with enough strength to pry it from between Blue’s teeth – the cigarette, taking a quick, deep drag.

“So, then.” Piper gathered up her darkest, most velvety tone she could, her voice a purr over Roy Brown’s ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’. “You finally gonna tell me what’s on your mind, or do I have to pry it out of you?”

Blue eyes widened, looking up, down, anywhere but at Piper.

“I really can’t keep anything from you, can I?”

“You’re pretty easy to read.”

“I mean – that _voice_ -” Her own voice was a murmur, taking back the cigarette with much less confident hands.

“I know.” Piper shot her a grin “That’s why I use it.”

A million different thoughts seemed to cross Blue’s face before she, as well, took a drag and, maybe in an excuse to turn her head away, exhaled in a complete different direction.

“That makes...a lot of sense, actually.”

“Sure does. Now, are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or are we gonna dance around the issue?”

Piper held her hand out for the cigarette. Blue grabbed her hand with her own, taking the momentum to pull the reporter close.

“We _could_ dance around it. After all,” Blue chimed over the radio, her tone deaf voice muttering along with the song. “There’s good rocking tonight.”

“I don’t -” Piper groaned. “That was horrible. I don’t even like you sometimes.”

“Come on, you love me.”

“Regrettably so.”

“Me too. Formerly, at least.” Blue replied, her eyes distant for a moment, almost in thought.

Piper stiffened in her arms, her hands moving to push the vault dweller off of her, but Blue held her close.

“The last time we danced like this, I mean.” Blue seemed a little wistful, but immediately looked at Piper, eyes widening in realization. “Not now, of course – never, are you kidding? Absolutely not.

“That one time in the library.” The cigarette was still halfway along, but Blue, either oblivious or not caring, tossed it into the gravel. “Do you remember?”

Piper felt a wave of – anxiety? Love? Anticipation? Something, but it sure was strong – come over her, but she masked it with a smile. “How could I forget?”

“I...Jesus.” Blue closed her eyes, giving a long exhale through her nose. “I liked you so much. And dancing with you was...really nice. But you were the first person – minus Preston and the Minutemen – who I met, never mind the first person who didn’t attempt to shoot me on sight. That was definitely also good and, God, I had this weird crush on you pretty much since then. Like, I didn’t want to be creepy, but when we’d fall asleep in the same bed and stuff...and that night we got drunk after I bought my house in Diamond City. And I lied and told you that I forgot what happened the night before but dude, I was totally gonna kiss you.”

Blue’s face reddened in what was probably embarrassment. “Is that weird?”

Piper’s heart rate increased exponentially, probably like a beating drum against Blue’s chest. Still, she felt herself gritting her teeth, giving Blue a light punch to her arm.

Blue wasn’t physically hurt, of course, but she cocked her head, confused. “What? Did I say-”

“I _HATE_ you!!!” Piper groaned, burying herself into Blue’s shirt like a pillow she’d scream into. In fact, she wanted to scream in frustration – and probably would have, if they were anywhere else but in the middle of the dangerous Commonwealth. “I hate you so much!!!”

Blue looked genuinely confused. “What’s-”

“God damn it! I liked you too! During then – before then! After then! We literally could have solved all of our fucking angst if we literally just TALKED TO EACH OTHER! God!”

Blue’s jaw dropped slightly. “You mean -”

“Yes. We’re idiots.”

Blue paused for a long moment. “You know, that sounds pretty on brand.”

Piper groaned again in the deepest frustration she’d felt in a long while, probably ever.

Blue continued, bemusedly. “At least we eventually told each other.”

“Yeah.” Piper’s blood vessels in her face were probably close to bursting. “After you went on a suicide wish when you thought I was gonna die. And then you were either just trying to get it off your chest as a final thing to kick off your bucket list or you were just high on Med-X when you told me for real. And then we left literally hours later and you didn’t even mention it until I confronted you-”

“That part was mutual, if I recall correctly.”

“Still!”

“Still.” Blue squeezed to Piper a little tighter, planting a kiss to the top of the shorter reporter’s head. “I’m so sorry about all of that. And leaving right after, too. It was definitely not how I intended it to be. I was just so afraid of losing you.”

“I know that now. And I understand.”

Piper’s voice lowered to barely a whisper. “Still sucked, though.”

“The mutual pining or the latter part?”

“Both. Jesus Christ, both.”

“Well, at least we solved all of that.” Blue shot her a smile that made Piper’s knees go a little weak – and thank God Blue was holding her. “Didn’t take too long, huh?”

“Months, Avery Bishop. Literal months. I thought I was gonna go crazy.”

“Me too.”

Piper sighed, moving her head up at last to face Blue’s, gently putting her hand on the vault dweller’s face and guiding her into a brief kiss.

“I love you.” she murmured on her lips when they finally parted.

She felt Blue’s lips against hers curl into a smile. “I love you, too.”

They kept each other in that embrace for a while, Piper nuzzling into Blue’s neck. Very distantly, somewhere in the city, she could hear the sound of an explosion coming from miles away, the cries of people fighting, the sound of bullets.

Behind them in the trail they took were corpses littered every few blocks. Mirelurks, raiders, mutants and yet, they've survived thus far. Some places in the Commonwealth were entirely cleared out by the two of them – although not for long, probably. Behind them was danger and bullets and knives and troubles and the same thing was before them for as long as they kept doing this – which, Piper knew, was probably going to be for a long, long while, if not forever.

And, in this tranquil moment between before and later, she still couldn’t dream of anything more.

“Hmm.” Blue’s voice was gentle, as if waking from sleep. “I don’t mean to press the issue, but do we want to keep going, or have you caught your breath?”

“It was taken away for a bit,” Piper straightened up, planting a kiss to Blue’s cheek as they parted. “But yes, I’m good now.”

Blue’s ears were red – which happened most of the times they kissed, which was goddamned adorable. “Right. It’s only a short distance from here. Let’s try to see if we can make it before sundown.”

They walked onward from the alleyway – side by side now, and Piper only realized then that she’d forgotten to ask Blue what was troubling her.

 

 

They ended up making it to the Castle right before sundown, after all. The Commonwealth sky was painted crimson and ink, streaks of golden light scintillating off the rhythmic, churning waves crashing against the old stone. The sound of Radio Freedom echoed faintly across the cobblestone, permeating even the halls of the fortress to a slight degree.

As soon as they passed through the entrance – a formerly open, crumbling space that was now fortified with planks and mounted with two heavy turrets atop it on small platforms built by none other than the General herself – the few Minutemen that were on guard duty at this hour of the day immediately stiffened up in the presence of the returning General, giving her a salute.

(Which they also did for Piper, which was always odd to think about because, while she had virtually no power within the ranks of the Minutemen, they had come to know her under a few titles: Piper, the famous reporter from Diamond City who had nothing but a stellar view towards the Minutemen and Piper, companion turned girlfriend of their very own General.)

Preston Garvey, who was hunched over with the operator of the Commonwealth Radio, finally noticed the pair of them and made a brisk walk in their direction.

“General.” Preston said, still giving a short salute as he did but beaming as he did, turning to Piper with an equally ebullient smile. “Piper.”

“Preston.” Blue gave him an equally sized smile. “There’s no need for the formalities.”

“Alright...General Bishop?”

“Guess that’ll have to do.”

“Right.” Preston nodded.

Preston turned around now to the open area of the Castle – dimly lit as the day began to end but still rife with Minutemen upon the walls at their duty while others conversed with very-much-not Minutemen as they farmed, smoked, and laughed together.

“Putting in that extra radio with our coordinates inviting people to settle in the Castle was a good move, General.” Preston crossed his arms at the sight, sighing a little. “Sure, we’ve got a few more mouths to feed, but it makes me happy that it’s gonna help so many people. I’m sure the old Generals would have been proud to see us now.”

“Proud of the rebuild, maybe!” Was the distantly shouted gripe coming from Ronnie Shaw, hands cupped around her mouth. “Not so much about the idiot General who took over the whole thing!”

“Keep talking, Ronnie, and we’re gonna have a round two!” Blue shouted up at the ornery Minuteman up on the wall in her guard post, who, even from a distance, visibly rolled her eyes.

“Last I recall you hit like a girl!” Ronnie called out.

“That’s a _compliment_!” Blue shouted back, grinning ear to ear. “Come down here and I’ll make you cry like a man!”

The older Minuteman shook her head, muttering something about “not having time for this” and straightened her position, giving her musket her full attention now and gave it a once-over.

“Ronnie’s just upset that she missed out on all the action.” Preston seemed a little sullen. “She’s been complaining about it nonstop.”

“Hey, she got to run the Castle while all of us were playing hero.” Blue shrugged. “From what I heard, she got to deal with a whole gang of some raiders trying to overthrow the Castle.”

“And their robots!” came the voice of Ronnie Shaw once again. “They made ‘em themselves! Twice the danger, twice the fun. Not as fun as melting synths, but it’ll do.”

“Raiders who are getting bold and attacking with their own robots?” Piper wondered aloud, giving a slight grimace. “If there’s anything that’s worse than a raider, it’s a smart raider.”

“That’s certainly next on the list of things to take care of.” Blue turned to Preston now, certainly looking less confident as she did walking in, her voice lowering to almost a whisper. “But, speaking of the Institute, where’s Shaun?”

“He’s inside the Castle.” Preston replied, his eyes looking toward a doorway to the right of them. He adjusted his hat awkwardly. “He’s...well, he’s been asking for you.”

“I’d expect as much.” Blue’s voice was a little formal, like she was relaying a command to a Minuteman. “What have you told him?”

“That you’re busy. Sturges has come by a few times and paid him a visit or two. Says he’s a smart kid - real good with tools. Keeps to himself, but picks up new things well.”

_Hmmm. That sounds familiar._

If Blue had any reaction to that, it certainly didn’t show. “Guess...guess I’ll be off, then.”

“Good luck, General.”

Blue didn’t respond to that and simply began walking in the direction of the doorway aforementioned by Preston.

Piper gave a quick wave to Preston; he didn’t seem to notice, his eyes were following the back of Blue in a look of concern - everything that Piper was feeling right then, as well.

The reporter finally caught up to Blue at last, a few paces behind her. They walked in through the doorway together – into the stone halls of the Castle, cleared out and with less rubble (and certainly less Mirelurks) than they’d initially found it in. It'd been renovated since; lights hung from the ceiling, the sounds of chatter coming from down the hall, up the hall from the people that had now lived there and made this place a home for themselves and their families and -

Blue stopped in her tracks.

“I don’t know if I can do it.”

Her voice was low both in tone and volume. Affirming, yet shaky. Her hand was a clenched fist.

“Hey.” Piper’s hand went to Blue’s stiffened shoulder. “I’m here for you. In every sense.”

Blue took a deep breath. “I know.”

She pivoted toward Piper – her eyes were dark, uncertain, and she looked down at the ground and mumbled something inaudible.

“What was that?”

Blue’s eyes closed.

“ _Doyouwanttocomewithme?_ ” Blue blurted out all in one second, her eyes shut tight, jaw clenched.

“In there? With you?”

Blue sighed. “Yeah.”

Oh, right. There it was. That thing that they should have definitely talked about before coming to the Castle. The thing that Piper either kept forgetting to bring up (because Lord knows Blue wouldn’t ever willingly talk about any problem ever) and the thing that Blue kept avoiding like the plague.

Shaun was Blue’s son – in most regards. He was a synth, but he was still her son. Her girlfriend’s son.

Blue had met Nat. She had a relationship with Nat that was entirely separate from their relationship; even when Piper and Blue were friends, half the time when Piper would wake up she’d find Blue fixing breakfast for Nat, regaling her with stories from the Pre-War days that were most likely half made up. That, or she’d be helping Nat with her homework, take her with her to the workbenches in the marketplace to show her how she’d weave straw into gold (or gun mods), and so, so many other things.

But still, Nat was Piper’s sister and, while Piper spent a good portion of Nat’s young life acting as the sole caretaker her, this was Blue’s son. Hers and Nate’s. A son that needed raising by a parent.

Piper would hardly call Blue matronly nowadays – maybe in yesteryear, when Blue first crawled into Diamond City and hunted after an infant child that she believed was still around then fighting tooth and nail for a young boy, both that she believed were Shaun and she was close, so close, to putting back together what was left of her family…

But now?

Piper, eternally restless, would usually lie in bed and wonder about Blue’s situation. If she would search for Nat and kill hundreds just to find her, only to find that she’d become the epitome of a living nightmare. And would she love her all the same?

Piper could understand why Blue’s emotions could have been so torn over that issue, but for Nat? Her heart only shouted a reverberating “Yes, yes, _yes_ ”.

“Do you -”

_Want me involved in your son’s life? Expect me to be a second mother – or a “family friend”? A babysitter? Are you going to ask me to start a family right now?_

“- want me to?” Was all that Piper could fish up as a response.

Both avoided the others gaze. Blue’s was on the floor somewhere, Piper started paying deep attention to the spiderweb cracks in the stone foundation, the scuff marks from the probably thousands of people that have kicked up dirt in here at some point.

“I mean.” Blue stammered. “Would you _want_ to?”

Piper ran her hands through her hair in absentminded thought, trying to focus on the question, the only sound filling the room the beat and crash of the waves outside.

“I mean.” Piper said, feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “I, well. God, this is gonna sound stupid.”

Blue pursued her lips. “What is?”

“Um. What am I going to be?”

A long, uncomfortable pause passed.

“To Shaun, you mean?”

“Yeah.”

Both of them stood there a few feet apart from each other. Blue looked equal parts concerned and anxious and with every passing moment that she didn’t answer, Piper felt the icy spike of anxiety wedge itself deeper into her heart.

Blue finally spoke aloud at last.

“I’m not – I’m not asking you to do anything.”

“I know you aren’t. I was just wondering.”

Blue swallowed. “We can...figure it out as we go?”

Piper cocked her head. “And just wing it?”

“I mean.” Blue gave a halfhearted, singular laugh. “It hasn’t steered us too wrong so far, has it?”/

“That’s definitely not true.” Piper corrected. “But...that could work.”

Blue lightened up immediately.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

The uncertainty still wasn’t solved. Just put on the shelf for another day – which was just so, so typical for them, but Piper was equal parts relieved. Blue wouldn’t be forcing her into a parenting role – which Piper was extremely likely not ready for in all regards. It wouldn’t be settling down. They’d be on their feet – and figure this out later, when Piper got to meet, talk to, and get to know Shaun for herself.

“Okay.” Piper let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Let’s…let’s do this, then. After you.”

They both continued down the hall, along the stony walls of the Castle. Blue slipped her hand into Pipers - it was sweaty as all hell and the fingers were trembling but Piper wrapped them up within hers, holding her tight, holding her steady, holding her throughout it all.


End file.
